prayer at noon

[Edit to be more readable AND expand it a bit]

Nord Holland didn't want for much. One of the few things he remembered of his long gone mother, was to be humble, to not be greedy [s], to not be like his father[/s]. Her single wing claw gently caressing his maw as he wept, reminding Nord he will be better than his sire. He can still remember the day his father pulled him aside, deathly quiet, as he explained, no spat, that the Gods of these Isles curse would kill us all one day, just as they killed his dear mother. The larger leading the child to his dam, who was completely crystalline topaz. (S)He still remembers screaming until he passed out, crying for his mom.(/s)

His sire...was a harsh parent. A bad parent, the wyvern would even say. But, his father raised him when he could've just handed him over to the orphanage, so begrudgingly...outside of his moods and his "discipline"...he gave the bare minimum gratefulness. He didn't raise a softbelly, that's for sure.

As if on cue, Nord's head began pounding from the unwelcome memories, his hindclaws digging into soft soil far from Ruby's Cathedral, a growl building in his throat as the High Priestess was late. But, not even a second after he realized it, a slender figure was bustling towards him, "I didn't expect the High Priestess to be late to meet with the Baron."

The wyvern's snarl swallowed instead for poisoned barbs, the large feline stuttered how she was busy with blessings, "I don't have TIME for your excuses," he hissed, "I want you to stop praising and using Diamond, and Sapphire, in prayers. I do not want them to be taught for they turned their backs on their creations."

The female gasped, "But, sire, they're important figures in history! And, if anything Sapphire is a cautionary tale, not even confir-"

"Do. Not. Argue."

The large feline snapped her jaws shut, teeth clinking before she turned, tail a whisker away from slapping the Baron in the face, muttering under her breath as she walked away, "Diamond is our justice, you cannot impede justice."

Nord heard a horrific screech, and then realized it was his own. The High Priestess' scent drenched in fear that he heard her muttered words, the words flying from his gleaming fangs in a frenzy, "I pray to thee, Emerald, has mercy on my soul, for I only do what needs to be done for this farce to end." The words of the prayer kept pouring from his maw as he pounced, his golden eyes slits and wild, his wings flared out as he dove for the female's throat.

Barely scrambling out of the way, her claws flashing to catch the wyvern on the chest, the High Priestess sprinted in a random direction, chest heaving, almost on the verge of hyperventilating, a jumble of "Please! I don't want to die!" falling from her muzzle as she abruptly smacked head first into a cliffside, her head already punishing her.

Then, he was on top of her, his fangs unnaturally bright, his eyes like a snake, the blood pouring from his chest already slowing to a lazy drizzle of red, "I found you." Fangs struck quick as lightning around the large feline's neck, savoring the explosion of metal in his maw as he felt the crunch of her bones. The corpse was limp in his jaws, he noted.

With that, he tossed the disgrace of a High Priestess a few feet away, and paused, then spat at the corpse, "I pray that Diamond welcomes you with injustice, just as he did us." And his wings snapped open and he took off.

He had a meeting to start.