The Return of the Pontiff

[LoLzboi 661]

DE REDITU IN PONTIFICEM

THE RETURN OF THE PONTIFF

 

An artists rendition of High Pontiff Jude I sailing to the new world of Atlas

 

6th of Sun’s Smile, 1716

 

 

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The waters rippled lazily as a soft wind blew across the expanse of the great Ocean, it’s colour a dark green murk beneath the light blue of the skies above. It would be silent if not for the periodic cackling screech of the seagulls as they flew about the small dingy, the small boat jostling listlessly even to the smallest murmur of a wave as it made its way starkly against the horizon. Beneath the proverbial rats of the skies, came the more melodically paced grunts and laboured breathing of the men manning the oars. Their bodies, once muscled and fit yet now almost naught but lanky bones covered with a thin mat of skin, pressed earnestly against the oars with little relief from the hanging backdrop of the unfilled sails. Amidst these men sat one who seemed nearly thrice their age, for his hair hung low and long about him as if it was to be his clothes entirely.

 

The men in their dingy rowed for yet another day, and for another night the men slept as best they could for they exchanged watches of the night sky so that they might not drift irreparably off course. This is the way they had existed for years since the last ship of the great nations moved beyond the horizon from themselves, their progress slowed by the lack of sails or men to man the oars as those great behemoths had supply of. The week prior to them departing from the fleets company being marked by a storm that had thrown Bogdan from their boat unceremoniously, their uncle being swallowed by the thrashing sea instantly and leaving them at an odd number. Their hope had dwindled and was replaced with the methodic movements of the oars, their dreams turned not from earthly pleasures but of those wonders they might find once their toil had ended in the skies above. The sounds of the seagulls and the slapping of oar against water replaced what was joviality amongst the pitifully few crew months after their departure from the main fleet, leaving a horrid sense of unspoken despair that all the men shared.

 

Vitaly Radovic pressed his remaining arm against the now perfectly smooth oar handle, while his cousin Gleb pressed at the same time beside him, the dingy lurching forward only a few inches before its speed dipped once again before the next thrust of their labours. Eyes glossed over, neither of them saw what came first as a trick of the mind, a mirage, but later grew to certainty before the ever watchful gaze of their kin, Siegmund.

 

A bellow of excitement for the first time in living memory came from the aged and decrepit man, his hand lifting shakily forward to the west, but one word escaping his parched throat “Land” before he broke into a violent bout of coughing. The two men raised their heads, their eyes losing the glaze of hopelessness, as they too saw the landmass before them emerge from the dark green of the waters before them, their blistered and cracked skin flexing as they broke into broad and cheerful smiles as new energy they had not known to be within them burst forth to their limbs.

 

The trio had found Arcas.

 

 

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The dingy twisted and moaned, its wood and bindings flexing under the stress of the rough waters of the isle it passed through them. It had taken another two days for the men to reach the coasts since their sighting, their newfound energy now depleted as they once again fell into the methodic movement they had known for so long, however the silence was shattered between them. Vitaly mused about the foods they would find once landed while Gleb spoke of the land they could once again walk on, and what goodness would come from having a piece of it for themselves once more. While the others babbled and laughed between each other, Siegmund sat in silence, his gaze fixated on the rolling green of the trees that covered the land and the birds that inhabited them.

 

The first time the trio landed their dingy upon the coast they ran it onto a soft sanded beach, and in their excitement they nearly forgot to secure the dingy or help their elder upon the shores. Yet, once both were done the would be settlers came across the warm sands of the beach and into the shaded growth of the forest beyond, their eyes searching for anything they could eat, their hands grasping and working at the foliage hastily. By the end of day, the trio were full of leaves and other sorts of plants as they sat resting and watched the sun die over the ocean that was their prison.

 

The second time they landed, it was upon a rocky coastline. Gleb, having explored heavily the first landing site, insisted they continue into the isle so that they might find a more suitable area to keep themselves, for he had discovered swine trails that gave him an uneasy feeling for they had no weapons to defend themselves from the beasts. The rocks of this coast gave Siegmund a great trial to traverse them, and so the trio was forced back onto their dingy and continue.

 

The third time, they landed at the mouth of a river. Briefly the three discussed of the likelihood of a settlement, if this was truly where the fleet had landed, being further up and all agreed it was best to continue onward and not tarry.

 

The fourth and final time they landed, they did so on the edge of the river after travelling what seemed to be far enough inland. It is here that they met their first foreign man, a hunter by the name of Terrance. The trio had stumbled across his cabin as they made their way around the river, which resulted in a great fest compared to the rations they had subsisted off of upon the dingy, they were then guided North-West, to the city of Helena.

 

High Pontiff Siegmund I had come.

 

[Vege 4804]

Emperor Godfrey welcomes back the rightful Pontiff of the Canonist Church! 

[SubscriptShark2 197]

Mosley staunton would look towards the TRUE PONTIFF of The Cannonist Faith with pride!

[Archbishop 1784]

“Imagine, excommunicating Renatus for killing priests and the like, being deposed by them and then joining them.” said Archbishop Zachery, shrugging off this false pontiff.

[HeroOfDuLoc 1935]

Gleb, son of Ser Bogdan, smiles as he comes upon Arcas with his great-grand-uncle Siegmund I.

[Reckless Banzai Screamer 15456]

“I wonder if I’m losing my job...” the injured Father Commodus comments to himself in the middle of *CLINIC ROLE PLAY*

[Enlightenment 2300]

“GOD bless the rightful High Pontiff”

[bromadan 368]

A Bishop scratches his head. “But... you people were the ones who wanted him removed..”

[HurferDurfer1 2979]

“so since the real pontiff didnt side with Renatus they brought back this guy to start a schism. real swollen cranium moves we got here” bottle spoke thus

[sergisala 3451]

Alexander II Merentel welcomes back the true High Pontiff  “GOD bless Renatus!” he’d say

[Xarkly 17299]

“Good fuckin’ grief,” Old Edward Barbanov stewed when he heard the news during his evening bath. “If you’re going to appoint your own Pontiff, at least raise a new clergyman rather than the fucker you deposed. I swear, youngsters these days do everything half-arsed. You didn’t see this kind of carry on back in my day!” he ranted to his manservant, who frowned uncomfortably while scrubbing the old prince’s back.

[MunaZaldrizoti 8037]

Francesca would sup with her father at midday, made with leftover rations that had not been taken to the previous siege. The young princess took a spoonful of her carrot stew before a messenger entered her father’s apartments, bidding he read the letter the youth clutched so tightly in his hand. It bore the seal of the High Pontiff, stamped with reddened wax.

 

With grey eyes focused upon her father, she frowned as his brow furrowed. He set the parchment down, his own gaze more focused on the seal that had concealed the contents of the letter. His fingers would wrap upon the cloth of the table. He rose, without but a nod to his child, before stalking out of the chamber, the page in tow. Francesca would rise carefully, peeking at what had been written in such haste.

 

She did not recognize the name of this Pontiff, for the only one she knew was Everard V.

[Publius 4098]

“Was it not Aurelius that seen him cast out? Where are the principles of this administration?” Commented a layman out by Ves.

[Archbishop 1784]

Just now, Publius said:

“Was it not Aurelius that seen him cast out? Where are the principles of this administration?” Commented a layman out by Ves.

“There is none, this just proves all he desires is power.” said Zachery.

[argonian 14254]

“Wait just how old is this guy?” asked tylos