He was a young man when his simple life changed. He often wonders if the choice he made was the right one. It was random chance that brought brother Thadeus and brother Pietr to his door. Though many may say that there is no such thing as random chance, and that there is only the pancreator's will.

It was a stormy night, he had made himself supper and was still lamenting the loss of his old mentor. He was disturbed in his thoughts by a heavy knock at the door of the rectory. A pair of priests had arrived, their robes were a simple sacking, tied with rope and dyed red. They walked in simple leather sandals and he noted instantly the thick callouses around the bottom of their feet.
"Greetings of the eve good brother." said the nearest of the pair, "Our journey has been long and I fear we have become lost in the weather. Would you permit two fellow priests to share your food and dry our clothes by the hearth?"
"Of course, how rude of me for not showing you in sooner.", he responded, moving aside and showing them to the simple table and the roaring fire.
The second one looked around the table, and studied the boy. "You are the village priest?" he asked sternly
"Oh, no. I am the noviate.", the boy explained "My mentor passed into the light several weeks ago. We are still waiting for the replacement I'm afraid." then he added "I did perform the rites though, and mr Mesnik said I did a pretty good job."
"Arrogance is a Sin!", yelled the second brother suddenly angry.
The first put a hand on the second's wrist, which seemed to calm him and explained "Please do not be alarmed by my brother's outburst, he walks the path of pure justice and has a keen sense for such failings."
"Oh, err. Well I'm sorry I did not mean .." he trailed off, not sure what to make of this pair.
"No harm done", said the First, then changing the subject he said, "allow me to introduce myself, I am brother Thadeus, and my companion here is brother Pietr."
He introduced himself, then the group sat down and he shared his meagre stew between three bowls. Luckily he had some bread fresh baked that morning by mrs Gill and some butter that his mother had dropped off a few days earlier, so he was able to make his food spread to a meal for three.
After serving up and saying grace, he noticed that Pietr had to be nudged to eat. Thadeus explained, "This food is very good, where did it all come from?"
"The meat is from the butcher, the potatoes from and the vegetables are from the rectory garden." he said
"The bread and the butter, are they from the garden?" said Pietr in an accusing tone
He was wary, but found calm in the story of the apostle Paulus and his encounter with the crone of Ishtakr. The pairing was reversed but the situation seemed similar. He looked the stranger in the eye and lead with a short quote, which he thought would lighten the mood. Then added "as it happens the bread is from mrs Gill, who is a good friend and the butter was made by my mother."
Thadeus laughed, Pietr glowered back but said nothing. He thought he may point out that Pietr was rather arrogant himself, but thought better of it, these priests were guests and strangers, it would be a sin to cause insult, doubled as he was in his home. So he said nothing.

The next morning the weather was still terrible, storms in the area were common in the summer months. He made sure his strange guests were well informed and invited them to morning prayer with him. They accepted, but he overheard Pietr's impatient complaint. "We can not sit around idle, we have a quest to complete."
He said, as father Johan had explained to a toddler the year before, "The Pancreator is sending his light into the ground and he must be watching out for us, because the storm tells us to stay inside."
Thadeus smiled again, Pietr said rather boastfully. "We have storms on Pyre where the light is pure fire, it can burn a man to dust if he does not take shelter."
Thadeus interjected quickly, "So we recognise that in such cases it is foolish to wander. So long as you are willing to have us, we are most grateful for your hospitality."

As it happens the pair stayed for several days. During that time they explained that they were monks from the burning dessert of Pyre, which was several jumps away. The cornerstone of their faith was that they would make penance for all of the sins of man. They believed that the fading suns were caused by sin, and that by making penance the phenomenon would start to revert. It took every once of will power not to laugh when it was first explained, but he knew that would cause serious offence. Father Johan had taught him that everyone worshipped the Pancreator in their own way, he explained that it was their role as priests to guide the people along a generally similar path of faith. He said nothing about monks, the boy reasoned that perhaps monks were capable of determining their own ecclesiastical path.

It turned out that the monks were looking for a very small hamlet, one of those that was without a road of its own and the route to it was a series of narrow cart tracks on the edges of the fields. It seemed only natural to volunteer to escort the pair. The journey involved an overnight stay, and the boy also knew of a farmer and his family who would be happy to give them shelter. He packed enough food for all of them and drove them all in the trap. Brother Pietr had to sit facing the wrong way on the back, and the ride was not smooth. Brother Pietr commented several times that they were not saving any time bouncing and rattling across the landscape. Brother Thadeus on the other hand was fairly quiet. More to make conversation the boy quizzed the brother on the monastic order they were from. And the brother was happy to explain.

The boy learned that the monastery was situated on the most inhostpitable planet in the known worlds. The fire storms were no exaggeration. Yet he painted the picture of the faithful living and working to exist as a single unit. In spite of the harsh conditions it actually sounded appealing. The group were dedicated to prayer, they were on that planet because of the harsh conditions. They had no distractions from their duty, and the fire storms were a sign that the place was blessed by the aspect of the Pancreator as a giver of light.

The hamlet was one of the poorest, it was on the edge of the community and the people kept themselves to themselves. They grew food in the fields, and were known to cause damage to the automated crofters from time to time when the great machines cut into the area which they considered theirs. The hamlet itself was inside a small wood, and there was only a narrow path through the trees up to the main handful of houses.

A scrawny grizzled woman of indeterminable age greeted the group with a grimace and a sneer. Brother Pietr commented in a whisper "I can sense the sin on her". The boy was not sure if the assessment was anything other than a visual inspection of someone who was forced to live on the outside of the community, but he tended his donkey and stayed quiet.

After a brief conversation which he could not hear, brother Thadeus leapt on the woman, grappling her. Brother Pietr drew a sawn off shotgun and started to scan the buildings around them. The woman laughed. Pietr shouted over at him, "boy, get away from the barn!"

He was puzzled more than concerned, such a rapid escalation of events really threw him off guard. He turned to the barn, it was where he had parked. The copse of trees did a lot to block out the sun, he realised that he was stood inside shadow while his companions were both in the light. This sent a chill down his spine, though he was not really sure why. He rushed over to brother Pietr and quickly blessed him "Let Mantius guide your aim brother" he pronounced, as he traced the symbol of the jumpgate on Pietr's forehead.
"you know Theurgy?", asked brother Thadeus, while struggling to hold the old woman.
"Only that simple blessing brother. Father Johan showed me the blessing in the scripture of Zebulon. The verse where he blesses the fishermen of Aragon, and they bring home the bounty of the sea to the starving people after the crops failed."
"I hear something", brother Pietr tone was abrupt. But they were silent, even the old woman stopped to listen.
The sound they heard was the clinking of chains. The boy immediately thought of the chain blocks which farmers sometimes used to lift heavy objects. "Sounds like chains rattling in the wind" he said, both trying to be helpful and wishing it was true
"no wind", said Pietr without taking his eyes from the barn door

The woman suddenly screached in laughter, she continued to cackle loudly for some time, until Thadeus clasped his hand over her mouth and dulled the noise. "Shut .. up" he growled into her ear.
The boy glanced over his shoulder at them, Thadeus was gripping her tightly in a full bear hug, he was struggling to keep his arm over her mouth. The rest of the buildings were eerily quiet.

"boy", Pietr said sternly ".. Open the barn door"
He looked around, there was clearly no one else for this task, but he really did not feel brave right now. "Erm, I .." he started to say. He glanced at Thadeus who seemed concerned at what his words might be. He did not want to let his companions down. "sure" he said, without confidence.
He cautiously crept up to the barn door. The noise of the chains rattling seemed to grow louder and louder. He reached for the handle. Undid the large latch, then the doors exploded outwards. He was hurled into his donkey. There was the sound of a shotgun going off, and a yelp of pain.

He regained his wits as quick as his body would allow and looked around. The woman was running into the largest of the houses, Thadeus was holding his leg in pain. Blood was seeping through his hands. Pietr was reloading the double barrelled gun as fast as he could from the shells in his satchel. He was the closest to the open barn door. He turned, gulping as he braved looking inside.

Blood was everywhere. In the centre was a metre diameter bowl carved into the concrete floor of the barn. It was full of blood. He looked up, from where he was he could see them. He realised that Pietr probably couldn't. His stomach was unused to the sight and it emptied his lunch into his hands in complaint.

A trio of unfortunate people were hanging by their feet, naked, their throats cut. Their blood dripping into the bowl slowly. On the walls of the barn were strange symbols, drawn in old brown blood. He studied the bowl a second time. There was blood everywhere, something nagged at him about that.

Thadeus and Pietr joined him, Pietr swore. Thadeus put his hands on the boys shoulder to reassure him. "Are you alright?" he asked.
He could nodded in response, then pointed out what he had noticed, "There is too much."
"Aye, calm yourself boy." said Pietr "We should not have brought him." he added with scorn
"No", the boy said "There is too much of a mess for the way they've been killed. I've seen the butcher cut a pigs throat like this, the blood drains straight down into the bucket."
"He's right" agreed Thadeus, "mmm, those bodies are old. A day perhaps. That pool is old too, and those markings on the walls are about right for this scene, brown and dry."
"Wait a second, listen" command Pietr cautiously
The boy realised instantly what the problem was, "oh, holy Zebulon." he exclaimed, "the sound of the chains has gone"
As if on queue a length of chain whipped out from behind the barn door at the group. The nasty barbed hook caught onto the donkey, it yelped in pain. The boy leapt to his feet and tried to pull the chain free of his pet. It came away, but took a good sized chunk of the donkey's flank with it.

Pietr to his credit charged in and fired both barrels of his shotgun at something. Thadeus ran to the trap and dove into his backpack for something.

Appearing as if from nowhere a heavy set boy with a brutish face struck Thadeus on the back of the neck with a shovel. It knocked him out cold. The boy saw it, he was confused where the boy had appeared from but saw that Thadeus had a grenade in his hand. He leapt and rolled in front of the oaf, then scratched in the dirt for the grenade. The oaf gave chase, so he went the long way back to the barn with the grenade, around the little cart. He passed some planks of wood leaning against the corner and paused to push them over at the oaf. It gave him the moment he needed.

Inside the barn he saw a man wrapped in an impossible amount of chain. He was reaching out and throwing three lengths, each with a sharp hook on the tip towards Pietr. Pietr spilled the ammunition from his satchel as he was interrupted from reloading and had to dive from behind the wooden pillar over a fence.

The boy pressed the button on the top of thre grenade, he had no idea if that would make it work or how long he had, so he tossed it gently. It landed behind the feet of the chain man, the button started flashing red. He saw Pietr look up briefly, then run for the old tractor at the back of the barn. He also ran away, though he tripped over his cassock on the boardwalk of the house next door. Turing he saw the oaf was passing the open barn door, when the grenade went off.

He held his head, his ears rang with pain. His donkey was on the ground whinnying in pain, she was severely wounded and he knew she would need to be put down. The oaf lay dead, several metres from the open barn. There were chains in the mess that was his body.

When the dust cleared Pietr staggered out. He could barely stand but handed over the shotgun before he slumped. The boy noted that it was loaded and ready. "The woman" was all he said.

With only two shots and no support the boy searched the area. He went through every room and every building, but could not find the woman. Pietr recovered and joined the search armed with a pistol as he was finishing up, they searched again, but found nothing.

Pietr pulled a high tech injector from brother Thadeus' backpack and loaded it with a reddish-purple liquid. He injected his companion in the neck, then swapped weapons with the boy.
"Thanks" he said when he took the gun. He nodded at the remains of the chain covered man.

"Uh, what hit me" asked brother Thadeus as he sat up

The boy was amazed, Pietr explained that the liquid was called 'elixir'. It was technology not a miracle.
The boy asked confused, "but brother Thadeus said that one of the sins you abhor is technology?"
"This is a .. necessity" answered Pietr cagily

It turned out that Thadeus was a rather adept tracker. The woman had left the are through the woods at the back of the large house. The group rested and cleaned the place up, they set up a large pyre for the five bodies.
"I assume you know the rites by heart?" asked brother Thadeus of the boy
The boy nodded silently, he had memorised them for father Johan's funeral.

The next morning the trio set out after the woman.