The Record of the Saints Caliber Read Online Free PDF Page B

there. She held hope that her days would get better and that eventually she would go off to fight Unbounds.
    But here in this volcano, in a kingdom she was not supposed to be in? Here they were only betraying Sanctuary and the kingdom they were given to. And on top of that, she still had no idea why they were even here or what they were even supposed to be doing. She had no idea what these soldiers had even given up their lives in Jerusa for. Had they been promised new homes here in Dimethica or some other kingdom? Nuriel wondered if things were really better in other countries, or if these men were risking everything for pastures just as fallow and fruitless as where they came from. She certainly had no idea what she was risking everything for.
    Nuriel’s golden eyes turned up to Isley. She had half a mind to leave him; to run back to Jerusa and find an Oracle and tell it about everything. Mentor or not, what they were doing just wasn’t right. They should be back in Jerusa, serving Gatima. “We’re going to get in trouble.” said Nuriel. “What if Sanctuary finds out we’re here? What if Gatima notices we’re missing?”
    “We are the Saints Caliber, Nuriel. We are supposed to serve a bigger purpose than Sanctuary and King Gatima.” explained Isley. “Everything we do is righteous in its course.”
    Nuriel bit her lip and shook her head.
    Isley took her gently by the shoulders and turned her to face him. He knelt down and placed a finger beneath her chin, the touch of the black star-metal cold and unforgivingly hard as she looked into those metallic, silver eyes of his.
    “Be loyal only to the will of our sleeping goddess.” said Isley. “Remember what they taught you in Sanctuary: Do not worry if your actions are right or wrong, good or evil, for your actions are the Goddess’s will. You are a Saint, Nuriel. Your actions—whatever the outcome—are the will of Aeoria. We are here for Aeoria. We are here because it is the will of the Goddess. When I found Celacia, it was the will of the Goddess that brought me to her.”
    Nuriel looked at Isley. She wanted to believe him. It would make everything a whole lot easier if she could.
    “Look,” he said, taking her hand in his. Unlike Isley’s Star-Armor, Nuriel’s didn’t include gauntlets. The arms of her white bodysuit extended out from her bracers and over her hands in fingerless gloves. Upon the top, painted in red, was her stellaglyph and Isley traced it with his finger. “This symbol is you ; it is your star. You told me once that you thought it looked like a sword and scales, and that to you it represented Sanctuary’s justice. When we first met, you told me that you wanted to fight for the justice of Holy Father, because you are strong in combat. You said that the scales would forever weigh your actions.
    “But it is not Sanctuary or Holy Father you should be fighting for, Nuriel.” continued Isley. He peered into her eyes. Those silver eyes of his were so like Holy Father Admael’s own; the way Isley’s eyes turned up in a tender smile with his mouth. Nuriel found herself wanting to believe his words as if they were Admael’s own. “It is Aeoria, the Sleeping Goddess, that you should be fighting for.”
    Nuriel inhaled deeply and looked into Isley’s eyes. His face was soft and mild, his voice always sincere and genuine. It made everything he said so easy to believe. It had made it so easy for Nuriel to follow him, and end up here, where she didn’t want to be. Where she wasn’t supposed to be.
    “Sanctuary would have you believe that we only use the stellaglyphs to symbolize our names so that we can recognize each other, so that we don’t need to bother learning how to read or write.” said Isley. “But this stellaglyph is your guide in this world, Nuriel. They don’t teach that in Sanctuary anymore. My mentor, Saint Augustael—rest his soul—taught me that, just as his mentor before him taught him. Augustael once told me that we