When A Mage Revolts

Benjamin’s plan within Fereldan quietly began.

They had to avoid getting detected by the Church. Therefore, they had to execute every move with extreme caution. His subordinates would enter each city and purchase a remote house that would then act as a base of operations which they would use to get in touch with the local mages.

At the beginning, they would not reveal their identity. Only once they have confirmed that their contacts were not spies, would they slowly start revealing news about the team.

Using this method, Benjamin was able to obtain feedback from mages nationwide.

The Declaration of the Freedom of Magic had been well received. Its distribution was more than he had imagined. Although he only printed one thousand five hundred books, mages were more than willing to hand copy it. The copies in circulation now were mostly the hand-written ones - the originals were treated as a symbolic collectible which would then be kept or stored away for safekeeping.

The mages were also excitedly retaliating against the Church. There were some that even formed a small underground organization to fight against the Church. For an example, the church construction that halted due to the "Triangular Spirit" was now used as a dumping site. People could smell the horrible odor when they came close; this ensured that the Church wouldn't be able to reconstruct in this location even if they wanted to.

Benjamin soon realized that these people were potential members.

He immediately sent out letters asking his subordinates nationwide to find these retaliating groups. He wanted to get in contact with them.

Fast forward to Landt City, Benjamin was in a room at an inn, meeting with the leaders of the local retaliating group — the two mages, Aiden and Norman.

"G-good day. Sir, are you… the editor of the Declaration of the Freedom of Magic?" Aiden took a deep breath before asking. The two looked at Benjamin in disbelief as they shifted uncomfortably in their seat.

Aiden was pleasantly surprised. He was amazed at how young the author of the book was!

"It wasn’t just me who edited it; It was a group effort. Twenty others poured their hatred towards the Church into this book." Benjamin smiled.

The two nodded.

Just as they had presumed, he had a strong network. They were but small fry to him.

But…

"I have to ask, does the "Triangular Spirit" from a few days ago have anything to do with you?" Aiden couldn’t hold his tongue and blurted out.

"Well…" Benjamin hesitated, "You could say that I personally take on every priest. However, this is a complicated matter, it’s best you do not tell anyone."

Aiden nodded calmly, "Of course."

But within him, he could hardly suppress his shock.

To think there was such a team in Fereldan that were fighting against the Church, slaughtering tens of priests, forcing the Church to fall back, publishing a booklet that changed the structure of the mages’ circle, and encouraging other mages to step up together against the Church.

Aiden considered himself lucky to have met Benjamin.

"You… are an amazing person."

It was hard for him to imagine what would become of Fereldan if it weren’t for this young mage in front of him.

"Am I?" Benjamin scratched his head, "You don’t need to praise me. I’m just working on how to improve my quality of life."

Aiden shook his head and exchanged a quick glance with Norman.

"Sir, we wish to join you in your quest."

Benjamin immediately replaced his aloofness with overwhelming sternness, "Have you guys thought it through? Although our identities have yet to be exposed, but our group has already become wanted criminals. By joining us, you will be subject to extreme danger at any time."

The two nodded without hesitation, "Yes we have."

As long as the Church was still around, the mages would not be left alone. They were slowly realizing this.

Their decision was simple, if they were going to die anyway, there wasn’t much of a choice between dying in vain and dying for nothing.

"If that’s the case, welcome to the team." Benjamin smiled and suddenly handed two specially made badges to them. "Guard these carefully as they are your only form of identification. If anything is going to happen, we will tell our contact in the city to inform you."

Aiden took a deep breath as he took the badge. It felt heavy in his head; perhaps it was because of the responsibility that came with it.

The badge was dark blue and triangular. It had a tiny hole on one of the edges, creating a simplistic, yet mysterious vibe.

"Triangular Spirit…" He murmured.

He recognized this pattern, it had been embedded next to every corpse from the serial murders of the priests. There were a lot of rumors going around about it which made him curious.

"What does the pattern mean?"

Benjamin smiled and answered, "Water."

"Water?"

"Water is the origin of everything. It normally seems calm and harmless, but, when many droplets combine, it can become an unstoppable torrent, destroying everything in its path."

"Combine…" Aiden was confused at first, but his eyes widened as he slowly understood its meaning, "I think I understand."

Benjamin continued smiling and did not say anymore.

But inside him.

"What meaning? I had merely taken the design from a rune in my space of consciousness and cooked up some random "meaning" for it."

However, the triangular rune actually did represent "water" in magic, so no one could call him a liar. He merely used it to create a ceremonial feel.

He knew that in order to build a large organization, belief and ceremony were important.

"We have some friends who would love to go against the Church, could they join as well?" Aiden asked as he kept his badge.

"Of course." Benjamin nodded, "You could act as their leader and help organize the retaliation in Landt City. But take note, there are certain things that you must pay attention to. There are spies amongst the mages; you must be cautious because once the spies discover the identities of the contacts, all our members in Landt City will be in grave danger."

Benjamin was also thinking about the future.

As the number of people grew larger, the danger of being exposed would grow as well. There was no way he could lead everyone. He would set up contacts and leaders in every city who would relay his orders while the leaders would oversee the other mages and do the nitty-gritty.

This way, even if a spy were to infiltrate the group, at least the damage would be limited.

Of course, Benjamin preferred if this hierarchal structure did not feel like a bureaucracy. However, it would be impossible to run it without a structural ladder.

Benjamin was feeling optimistic.

Every system is at risk of one day becoming decadent, but right now, they were full of passion.