AEHU/Plot/Plot Sketch Chapter 1

"Confessions"

Wittel awakes in front of Sensei's monastery to the sight of Leene's entourage, the Guardian queen apparently making pilgrimage to the famous shrine. His friend Pepin reminds him of the initiation ceremony they're about to undergo as novitiates of the Way of Honor, and Sensei charges them with collecting baptismal water from a sacred mountain spring.

Wittel's wish to visit Cyrus' grave on their way back from their brief mountain excursion leads him into a frightening encouter with the supernatural in the bowels of the Northern Ruins. Artemis helps him out, since she's recently been contracted by Sensei to rid the ruins of malicious spiritual phenomena.

Wittel undergoes the initiation ritual, which involves the novitiates offering their worldly possessions to a Sacred Mirror, symbolizing their will to enter into the monastic community (their possessions may be held communally by the Way of Honor as an aggregate body). All Wittel has to offer is the Pendant that was on his person when he was left at the Monastery as a child. The Sacred Mirror reacts to the Pendant and the Saint resting within apparently awakens and delivers an ominous message accompanied by horrifying visions.

While Wittel is cooling off after the episode and wandering around town, he witnesses the Lord Magistrate organize Choras' defense from a pirate raid. Brigands have established a solid beachhead on Choras' western shore and are actively plundering. Some make it inside the monastery, where Sensei holds Wittel back from attacking; the pirates capture the Sacred Mirror, with which Sensei would rather part than allow Wittel to bring himself to violence.

After witnessing the attack, Wittel abandons his monastic life in Sensei's monastery to pursue the path of the "hero."