The Valousian Orthodoxy of the Holy Blue

The Templar stepped forward from the clergy of men adorned in blue and white robes, all embellished with the symbol of the sun woven into their cotton fibers. In his left hand he held his sword glistening with oil, and his right hand held the back of his young squire of about 16 years old as he escorted the boy towards the brazier at the head of the church. Stopping just short of it and kneeling, he released the boy who also kneeled. Above them both stood a man clad in iron armor with pauldrons and a chestplate that seemed to give the illusion of the man being larger than anyone in the room, all while the rays of light through the stained glass windows shone upon him and caused him to glow almost ethereally radiant. The giant of a man had burn scars of 3rd degree across half of his face and arms, the other half were tattooed in holy symbols. After a brief moment of silence from the low and quiet chanting hymnals of the men in the back, the armored holy man began to speak.
“In-eriadme to the Holy Blue, and in the name of Valous, our God.” He said while raising his hands out, before everyone else in the room followed in repetition. “We stand here to honor the traditional ceremonies of the church as have been ordained since the time of the first light. Before, we were lost and in darkness, but now we are saved. Valous generously shines his blessed light down upon us from his dominion in the blue sun above us all, and thus he enlightens us out of darkness, and he empowers us to burn away the sins of all those who would oppose the church and his divine truth. Indeed, today is most auspicious for our order, as we have finally rooted out the archmage Ilandrion and his followers attempting to sway our precious empire away from the holy path with their wicked and vile wizardry. It is a shame we were not able to snuff out the remaining twelve of his council, but alas they hide amongst our enemies! Nevertheless, Valous will give us the strength to crush these foes and bring the church and it’s inquisition to every corner of land that the light touches. No foul magic taint will corrupt our spirits as we root it out of our land. And this, my brothers and sisters, is what we are here to do today: to perform the long respected ceremony of immolation, inducting yet a new proven member into our fold, one who has passed many trials and completed his training with extra ordinary devotion and loyalty to the word of the Church and that of Valous. This boy today becomes one of our own, a Templar in service to the church, a Paladin in service to Valous, a Cleric in service of the Blue Sun, a light bringer to purge the darkness and sin of the world! With this, holy flame, I light the Brazier anointed in holy oil. Watch and feel as the flames burn hotter and brighter than any red flame produced in desparation. Our noble Templar, Godwyn, who is representing this boy today, will light his anointed sword in the brazier!”
The Templar stands from his knelt position, and brings his sword up with both hands slowly, laying it into the flaming brazier with the hilt still in his hands. After several moments, the blade begins to glow white hot, and the Templar raises it above his head into the air to show the blue flames that have engulfed the whole length of it now, burning the holy oil around it.
“Now, my brothers and sisters, Godwyn’s squire will place his head upon the altar between them, and will accept his place amongst our order!”
And as this is said, so does the squire. He turned towards Godwyn, and laid his head across the alter betwixt the two of them. The low hymnal choir in the back of the room begins to sing quietly once more, filling the room with chanting to be heard faintly under the holy man’s words. Godwyn took his flaming sword and faced the squire who winced at the heat of the brazier and sword near and above him. For a moment, the two stopped all movement while staring at one another. Godwyn could see the boy’s breaths begin to increase in speed, and the boy was almost deafened by the sound of his own heart pounding through his ears against the stone.
The holy priest begun to recite verse after verse from his book of texts and prayers, but the boy could not hear any of them. His senses were entirely focused on the heat of the flame around the blade, adrenaline flowing through his veins, sweat dripping out of nearly every pore. Godwyn slowly lowered the flat of the blade towards the boys face, and as the flame grew closer it begun to scald his skin just from the mere distance of it. Without wasting a moment more, the flat of the blade was pressed down against the side of the boys head, scorching and burning through his flesh in mere seconds, branding him with a mark the shape of the sword, leaving a wound that would scar permanently and never fully heal, a symbol of his devotion to the church, before the blade was released from him. His screams of pain drowned out all prayer and hymnal during these moments, it was all he had trained for, one final test to be inducted into the order, the test proving utmost loyalty. Before long, his voice gave out, and his strength to handle the pain wavered as he slowly drifted into coma.
The holy man gestured to Godwyn, bowed before the altar of the sun behind him, and gave one last prayer. “In-eriadme to the holy blue, and to our God Valous. Take this new Templar, Godwyn, and give him food and rest. His new life within our ranks has now begun.”