Sile parted ways with Lengsat with a promise in her heart and the resolve of stopping a calamity. She headed with all her might towards the border fortress and outposts of the Holy Empire of Ivalice, rallying all the troops available and issuing a distress signal of an imminent war.

Now that she was aware that there were traitors inside the empire, she noticed that there were people that deliberately tried to make things difficult for her in order to slow her campaign towards Blade’s Edge Pass. However, she was well aware of what to do, using her overbearing authority as a general under direct command of the king, she jailed all of those who dared to contradict her orders.

She knew that she would probably be stripped of her power and punished severely after finishing the matters with the demonkins, but she couldn’t be bothered with that right now.

She knew that the distress signal will probably be hidden by those traitors inside of the empire, but even if there was a small chance that someone answered the call, she will cling in that ray of hope.

She knew that she was being selfish, but that selfishness of her represented countless innocent lives that could be saved.

However, in midst of the chaos something unexpectedly good happened. All of the border citizen and guards were descendants of those brave warriors that participated in the great calamity war ten thousand years ago. Although many generations have passed, the desire to fight for the peace of the land and the blind faith in Titor was deeply ingrained in their hearts.

They knew that something fishy was going on in the Northern Plains, but they had no idea what was that something. After the survivors arrived at Mag’ul Fortress, word spread of the mass abducting, and then they heard Sile’s call to arms. Sile was a True Paladin, and a True Paladin could be considered as the person most close to the legacy of Titor. Thousands upon thousands of soldiers, mercenaries, retired veterans, and even those that made part of the militia of the caravan of survivors that Fagul was leading, disregarded their superior’s orders and answered her call and headed towards Timberwood outpost.

In two weeks a miracle happened. The army Sile assembled numbered over three hundred thousand people, and there were even more people answering her call with the passing of the days. Although this was an impressive number, Sile knew that this was far from enough, and not only that, she couldn’t wait more. The journey to Blade’s Edge Pass would be at least three weeks, if she wanted to save some lives, she had to start moving the army now.

Sile picked up the fastest and strongest of those who were already gathered and made an advance army. She left behind their most loyal subordinates at charge of leading the second and third waves of soldiers towards Blade’s Edge Pass.

The second wave will be composed of the siege weapons and will depart four days after her. The third wave will be composed of all of those who answered her call and could get moving ten days after she parted with the first wave.

Moving siege weapons was obviously a hard and slow task, however, with the aid of mages the task was ten times easier. The times she gave to the second and third wave were no arbitrary numbers, they were meticulously planned in order to give them just enough time for both of the waves to arrive at the same time, fifteen days after her arrival at Blade’s Edge Pass.

And so, an army of two hundred thousand soldiers parted from the outskirts of Timberwood outpost on a fateful day. They traveled day and night, almost without rest. Although an army of this size wouldn’t pass unnoticed, the fact was that there wasn’t anyone to notice them. There was no signs of human activity wherever they passed in the Northern Plains. Instead of being demoralized and fearful by this, every soldier felt their blood boil, and their hands were itching with the anticipation of gripping their weapons and slicing the throats of those who dared to treat the lives of the citizens of the tribes of the Northern Plains as resources they could gather whenever they felt the need to.

Three weeks later they were at Blade’s Edge Pass, searching for the place in which the demonkins where keeping captive the habitants of the Northern Plains, but an encampment huge enough to have millions of prisoners was never heard of, much less seen. After searching for three days with no signs of finding any clue, Sile was starting to become restless, however, she knew that it would not be simple matter to find them.

On the night of the fourth day, Sile’s army was resting in improvised encampments to rest for the night while there were some scouting parties looking for that elusive fortress. Sile was trying to figure out a plan when suddenly a figure approached her tent, “Lady Sile, may I have a word with you?” Said the gentle voice of a young maiden while half kneeling and bowing deeply towards Sile.

“Rise Sasha, there’s no need for such formalities with me.” Replied Sile with an equally gentle tone. Upon seeing Sasha stand up, she continued, “Did you find something?”

“I think so,” Replied Sasha, “A wizard specialized in divination casted a powerful augury magic and found a zone which didn’t resonate properly to his magic, as if something or someone is blocking it.”

“Oh?” Sile’s eyes immediately lit up, “Is he capable of pinpointing the location?” Asked Sile with a tone of urgency.

Sasha nodded.

“Bring me to him immediately! That was just what I needed.” Without wasting any time, Sile donned her cloak and followed Sasha.

After meeting the wizard, he indeed signaled Sile the general location where he sensed that his magic was less effective. Sile closed his eyes for several minutes and concentrated deeply, his senses drifted towards that area, where she felt a repulsive force too.

Sile opened her eyes and started to walk towards a clear area. Sasha and the wizard tailed her with puzzled expressions. Sile tossed his cloak to one side and reached her holy symbol depicting a shield and a lightning in the trinket of her necklace. A powerful light aura started to congregate around her, visible to the naked eye. It started as tiny specs of brilliant light swirling around her, and in a moment turned into a huge vortex of tens of meters in height.

The huge pillar of light attracted the curiosity of many people who turned to look towards Sile, and her minds trembled inwardly, yet they were filled with excitement at the same time. Knowing and witnessing how powerful a True Paladin was were two different concepts.

Upon seeing the congregation of such powerful light aura, all of those who had an affinity towards it felt the urge of kneeling immediately. As those sensitive towards the light aura kneeled, the rest of the army, out of respect, kneeled one after another, forming a huge reaction. Soon, the whole army was kneeling towards the vortex of light, looking at the direction in which Sile was.

Sile released the grip of her holy symbol, which started to float in front of her chest, pulsating with a heart palpitating aura. Her eyes snapped open, shinning with a dazzling light even brighter than the vortex around her. The appearance of Sile changed to that of a Saint which descended from the heavens, and the aura she radiated was pure to the extreme.

“Elidris, God of balance, I call upon thee!” Sile yelled, a booming voice filled with dignity resonating in the whole crowd, “Bestow upon me the favor of revealing my enemy, in order to bring your judgement upon them!” Each word resonated in the hearts and minds of everyone present, each word more powerful than the previous one. The ground started to quake slightly, and then the vortex of light surrounding Sile congealed in a ball of light which shot towards the heavens.

Upon witnessing this scene, some soldiers in the army had tears rolling down his cheeks, some of them were trembling inwardly, there were numerous reactions to Sile’s demonstration of her faith. This was the power of a True Paladin!