I Am a Heretic in the Kingdom of God

There is only one right in this world—God's right. Kyle Ashton spent seventeen years learning to shut up. As the eldest son of a declining nobleman from the Kingdom of Thousand Saints, he wore a silver holy badge, recited incantations in the ancient Angsa language, and prayed to the god who had never responded. His father said it was order. His mentor said it was justice. He said yes. Until he saw an old man being burned to death in the square because of the word "heresy". Until he knelt in the pile of still-hot ashes, dug his nails into his palms, and bit his lips until they bled. Until the thing in his body—the thing that had been sleeping for twelve years and that the church most wanted to burn—opened its vertical pupils under the gaze of the scarlet moon. That day, his silver holy symbol corroded and turned black in the palm of his hand. That day he realized: God is fake, fire is real, and what flows in his veins is the biggest evidence of sin in the world. The Church says: Purify him. The Dragon Hunting Court said: Hunt him. His former mentor watched silently as he disappeared into the night. Kyle Ashton tore the Holy Symbol off his chest. Not running away. It's time to go to the wind in Dragon Bone Cemetery to find an answer. "Who are you fighting for?" "For everyone who can't say 'no'. For everyone who kneels and never gets up again." Gods above. He wanted them back - one by one.