[center][h1]ℜ𝔢𝔫𝔞𝔲𝔩𝔱 𝔅𝔢𝔞𝔲𝔪𝔬𝔫𝔱[/h1][/center] [hr] In the death throes of the infernal creature lit aflame, Renault couldn't help but let his shield and blade clatter to the damp, rancid floor as gauntleted hands clasped around his ears. The rat's screams seemed to bleed past one's normal hearing; piercing into the very soul. With a dread silence almost instantly following, Renault took a few moments before his faculties returned to him, sheepishly gathering his equipment from the ground and doing a quick cleaning of his blade before returning it to his scabbard. There was still a tingling left in his fingers. The power that coursed through them just seconds earlier, like a white-hot flame that touched, but did not burn him. A holy light darkened, dimmed inside himself for as long as he remembered. Did the presence of this...[i]Evil[/i] bring it out of him on instinct alone? Or were greater things at work? The Order taught the Paladins humility and submissiveness, not merely to prevent arrogance, but to show them how grand and incomprehensible the gods were. For even the least among the divines would see the best humanity had to offer as nothing more than an insect. But seeing this, knowing this, Erithar chose from the millions a portion who were tasked with wielding His divine will. They would follow His tenets, obey His laws, and receive awesome power in return. Was that why Renault was here? Why he had been thrown into that cell in the first place? After years of aimless wandering, without hope and purpose...maybe this was his Patron's will after all. With the immediateness of the [i]now[/i] again returning to him, Renault was all but overwhelmed by a fresh wave of tiredness that washed over him. Resisting the urge to sit down and rest here on willpower alone, Renault did his best to avert the gruesome sight of the perished Brood-Mother. "We best make our way out of here, before more of them show up. It's more than likely that any stragglers will scramble, nest elsewhere. Hopefully far away."