‘Calm down Cris. You’ve entered a state of shock from an overwhelming of experience and an overexertion of both your body and soul. Here, lean on me for a moment. We can consider that the items in this room will be soon removed. The health of one of the faithful is always worth more than worthless books, papers and maps. Wait a second, I’ve got something that should help.’ said High Priest Schmidt as he rummaged through his robes.
Presently Cris was at the front of the mock lecture room as robed figures entered and began removing parchment, used and blank books and any writing materials. His senses remained dazed and his eyes glanced at the closed incense censer used by Lady Joanne before she had exited the mock classroom to instruct her servants to clear the room and prepare another.
Those inside the mock classroom had formed into smaller groups as they waited for further instructions after being told that they would be entering a more suitable room for another lecture.
The construct Ren with his torn golden robe and Maxton Ge were in the back of the room. Both of the books they had been writing in had been taken and stored away in the same magic storage place in which the construct had given Cris his own items.
The three augmented had formed themselves a short distance from Cris but not close enough to encroach on him. Besides Agnes giving him a single wink she otherwise showed a look of extreme boredom on her face. Sergeant Marley had taken as much minor writing equipment as he could stuff into his own robes inside hidden pockets and was presently tapping at the wooden walls of the mock classroom for further hidden entrances with a small hand axe held tight in one grip.
The last group was himself and High Priest Schmidt whom he was presently leaning on as a gentle use of light energy from the older rotund man helped calm him and reduce his emotional range. Cris had never mastered the trick as it was usually for graduate priests and priestesses to use but he was thankful for it.
He half-muttered his thanks and a small flask was pushed into his hand as High Priest Schmidt grabbed it from within his robes and uncapped it.
‘Perfect. Buttermilk. Alcohol doesn’t help much when you’ve had a surge of light magic infused into your body. I’m surprised that your skin hasn’t dried up and you can express that much emotion given the relative damage. I never taught you to build up a charge within your own body unless under desperate circumstances. The Goddess wants us to live, enough martyrs have already died under her watch. Not from one so young with so much potential in life. Ah, I think we’re ready to move on now. That young lady over there, well, she’s a bit older than you appears to be familiar with you and the young man with the curly hair and pretty face keeps staring at you. I will admit Cris, out of all of my students you were the most boring. Look at you now, set up for a life of adventure. Not quite what you imagined, that Head Servant of yours should be here to take care of you. Not a fat old man like me. Come, lean on me a little longer and you’ll be alright, you can finish off the flask, it’s fresh and untouched’ said High Priest Schmidt.
Shaking his head and taking another deep drink from the flask, Cris did feel better. There had been a part of him which he was unfamiliar with which had called to him to gain control, to order others but he discounted it as mere hysteria.
‘Thank you Ser.’ said Cris as he forced the words out of shivering teeth. He didn’t mention the pill with gas that filled his lungs which Maxton Ge had provided him.
As the three groups held together a commanding voice called out as Lady Joanne Dee Mawr appeared. She had changed her clothing Cris noticed, in such a short space of time to an imitation robe of a High Priestess. There were minor alterations done such as the hood over her head had a veil covering her face this time but he wasn’t keen on her face changing act.
Having experienced it closely once he had little interest in examining why her face held bonded corruption but the rest of her body remained the same. The room was full on enough interesting individuals that Cris had enough to deal with presently. The fact that they were going to enter another room for a lecture was the main thing on his mind, that and trying not to lean on his old lecturer for too long.
‘Please follow me. We have a more...secure location which requires privacy. This entire room will be emptied and all traces removed, burnt and disposed of. Any notes you might have taken will need to be brought of destroyed. For the purposes of security, the threat of cultists and outside powers is stronger than you think. No offence to our esteemed guests from the Celestial Empire of course.’ said Lady Joanne Dee Mawr as she inclined her head towards them as her priestess robes billowed outwards as her hands met in prayer.
The silence which followed as they entertained Cris was refreshing to say the least. All he wanted was to reverse his last day and night and agree with his Head Servant Alessandro. The fact that he hadn’t seen the man who considered himself his adoptive grandfather in some time wasn’t too concerning but Cris would ask Lady Joanne Dee Mawr when they arrived at their destination.
The old man had given him clear warning not to trust the woman and although both the Augmented trio, the at least the construct Ren were under clear instructions or had formed a loose contract for the former he didn’t actually know why they wanted him safe. High Priest Schmidt he knew to be a devout follower but his earlier words of near-heresy were shocking. The rotund man had never spoken that way before. Not even a single negative rumour had passed the ears of Cris regarding the man and his faith.
He had been a priest in training only and a minor noble with limited resources. Unless they wanted him for his mother and the connection with her present husband than he had no real clue.
A massive amount of resources is being spent and I’m no closer to finding out why.
All of the individuals entered the same corridor but the alchemical lights which had previously lit further down had been entirely extinguished and only a single doorway was lit up.
Cris wanted to ask but a squeeze from High Priest Schmidt as the man held a tight grip under his arm keeping him steady along with a barely-noticeable shake from the beard of the man made him keep his mouth shut.
Clearly they wanted silence and gave it in turn. As the doorway was opened Cris was surprised see the walls and floors were made entirely of white marble with black streaks running through it. At the front was a small platform, raised above the ground and a statue of the Goddess Aliza.
A series of stone benches that had been built of the same type of white marble formed the back of the room with a suitable distance between them. On the ceiling a single massive alchemical light burnt with an intensity which reminded Cris of the image of the Goddess Aliza as she hung in the air above her own temple illuminating a large part of the capital city during the day and dimming at night.
‘Welcome to my Inner Sanctum. All materials for writing, taking notes, recording on any form and that includes cutting yourself and writing on your skin or clothing are banned. Nothing inside this room is to be repeated outside and will only be provided inside. While we will have several other fellow students joining us we may repeat previously covered discussion but only in this room. If any of you are questioned by one of the Six Lords and Ladies, myself, the Queen, her husband the King-Consort or any other High ranking noble you will tell them that you entered this building into a normal classroom. Am I clear on this affair?’ said Lady Joanne as she strode to the front platform and stood there with arms in prayer. Her veil shifted again but Cris knew that seeing her face inside this place was a bad idea. His eyes shifted to the statue of the Goddess Aliza, her features plain but it captured the intensity within her eyes.
To imitate the likeness of her using living flesh would be something he couldn’t bear to see.
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‘Sit down and each of you will talk. This room is for shared discussion, here we are equals, each with her own perspective of the world we live in. You may share as much or as little as you prefer for a given topic. All will follow the same rules of time, respect and listening. To make it simple, when I stand here you will listen. When I move away I will listen. Captain Agnes, you will ensure the doors are closed once one more student arrives. A Master Alessandro. Sergeant Marley, you will check the doors for leakage of sound. Richter. Sit there and look pretty. The rest of you sit and pay attention. Time isn’t on our side and the cost of imbuing this place cost me a large chunk of my budget. Thankfully it will remove the need to relieve yourself and reduce the desire for food and drink. Maxton Ge, your turn. The topic is yourself and your interest in the our Kingdom of Nurburg. Keep it short.’ said Lady Joanne.
Cris took his own seat on a carved marble bench, despite the materials it was built off there was a sense of warmth coming from it. He placed his bare hand and felt the protection of the Goddess imbued within. The holiness from this simply stone was similar to that he had seen in select areas within the Academy of Purity, the energy involved and the number of priests and priestesses needed to store it within was hard for him to calculate.
Captain Agnes stood by the door with a face still showing clear signs of boredom. Out of the other two Augmented, the one called Richter was sitting uncomfortably close to Cris and Sergeant Marley had a hand placed against the wall as he kept his eyes focused on the front.
Ren hadn’t chosen to taken a seat and the entire lack of movement, except for his life-like painted features and golden robe would have caused Cris to assume the construct was simply a statue placed into the room for storage. He handed back the now empty flask of buttermilk to High Priest Schmidt with a smile as the older man applied light magic on it and reduced it into dust which he brushed off his robes.
Maxton Ge leaped onto the small platform at the front.
‘Hello. My bodyguard is called Ren. He doesn’t have a name. We travelled an extremely long distance from the Celestial Empire out of curiosity and the opportunity to eliminate long term threats. A trader from a bordering kingdom to yours, one of the three surrounding you, talked to one of our merchants travelling far away and gave interesting news of a magical disease which destroyed armies. Even if it was exaggerated the Immortal Celestial Emperor in his wisdom took me from my Jianghu prison and gave me a task. To find and help eliminate this threat. Ren is both my bodyguard and executioner. If I fail I die. If I succeed we both return and I am rewarded. Our travels took us several years walking here although Ren carried me for a large part of that. We fought off monster and bandits but I prefer the taste of them back home. We did have to fight our way through a barbarian army once but I took on the title of an Elder of the Tribe and started a plague or two to enable them take a few cities in their path. Taking cities is a tricky thing….oh and Ren and I are here to assist Cris on this mission. If you want anything further try talking
The rest of the room gave a minor smattering of applause and Cris considered that the strange man talked a lot but didn’t actually say much. He still had no idea of what the mission was meant to be.
Sergeant Marley standing by the door shook his head before he took a seat on one of the marble benches away from Cris. He then pulled out a stack of scrip in his had and licked a finger before he flicked through it. to Ren but good luck. Ah, my name is Maxton Confucius Ge but you can call me Disease Master.’
Despite his apparent lack of interest in the introduction of a clear foreigner who had hailed from an Empire barely known in myth but known exist albeit on maps drawn by traders he looked directly at the man with golden eyes and slapped down a handful of script down on the marble bench next to him.
Even though his voice was kept low Cris could still audibly hear him as though he didn’t care if he was heard out loud.
‘Stupid winner. Think he knows how to play cards better than me. Even bet me he’d be the first chosen to speak. Stupid fancy game of stones.’ complained Sergeant Marley with a sour look on his face.
As the man with golden eyes approached him with a hand held out expectantly and stood in front of him, Sergeant Marley reached into his cloak and pulled out even more script which Cris recognised as having belonged to him previously and slapped it in the waiting hand of Maxton Ge.
‘Pleasure doing business with you. Tell you what, how about we run a few tests when we’re done here of the limits of those artificial bits of yours and I’ll return your money three-no four-fold. Nothing that will cause permanent damage and all you have to do is drink a little of one of my own concoctions.’ said Maxton Ge.
The augmented known as Marley simply sighed and stuck out a hand before he spat on it to shake in agreement.
The construct Ren had moved swiftly, faster than anyone could visibly see but Cris saw no tell-tale traces of sorcery of magic. The construct in the golden robe was simply on the raised platform at the front when he had been standing at the back, there had been a rush of wind.
As he stood on the platform the construct took the part of the golden robe which was torn and running it through his fingers ripped it off as it failed to vanish. Frowning, the face of the construct focused once more before his entire head turned around to gaze at the statue of the Goddess Aliza before nodding and returning to normal. Then it ripped off the golden robe and folded it up into a neat bundle before tucking it under one arm.
[Hello fellow students. I will repeat myself when others come to join our class in the future. My name is Ren. I have yet to earn a true name to be bestowed on me by the Celestial Huangdi, Maxton Ge has spoken true. I have an additional mission to see that Young Master Cristofen is kept safe from immediate threats until he is able to secure the object. If Maxton Ge abuses his host privileges or ambassador status you will inform me and I will punish. I am not human. I was tasked by the Sons and Daughters of Heaven to fulfil my duty and I will do so unless destroyed. Do not try and test me. The augmented are the base skeleton of my entire being.] said Ren as he stood there with another look of concentration on his face as the folded golden robe underneath his arm failed to be stored away with his spatial magic. The tone of the construct was entirely flat with a slightly metallic twang which Cris had encountered meeting first within the cultist dungeon underground.
When it had spoke to him there was an element of emotion there but for now it may have been different from any other basic construct he had seen except for attention to detail on the body, face and eyes and the mobility.
He’d never heard a construct talking before and the Church of Light and Purity mostly used them to dispense either written words of wisdom or supplies for the poor and destitute as long as they proved faithful to the Goddess.
[Your Goddess of Energy is impressive. I will consider adding her to a list of minor gods to be worshipped. Perhaps the Celestial Huangdi will even invite her to his court. That is all.]
A round of enthusiastic applause broke out from High Priest Schmidt who was beaming with delight at both the ability of the statue of the Goddess Aliza to restrict the magical abilities of the construct and the praise that he heaped on.
Standing up he spoke two odd words which were exactly the same tone and language which Cris had heard Maxton Ge, Ren and Alessandro speak several times. He assumed that they had a positive meaning as the construct smiled deeply, as lifelike features responded and it bowed its head before turning around to bow its head as the statue of the Goddess Aliza and then step off the platform to take a seat on a front row of the marble benches.
Out of curiosity, Cris wanted to know more about that language. If he even knew a few words in it he could communicate secretly or hidden on some level with people around him. The hand gestures that the augmented used to communicate silently were another form of language he recognised but he had no clue what they were used for and why they didn’t speak clearly.
His thoughts were interrupted by Lady Joanne Dee Mawr who in her white priestess robes marked with red lines and veil approached the platform and spoke, her voice resounded inside the room with a deep tone. Deeper than all rights she had to given her physical form.
‘I will ask our trio of augmented to talk next but thank you for our present speakers. There is a purpose to this, and do not share any of the information given outside of this room. Even if others talk to you openly about it and show awareness none here will share it. I hope I am clear. I only give warnings one and you all heard my last one. When we have new members of our little group I will give them a private word in advance. I suggest we rest for a moment as the augmented decide how to explain their continued existence and their value to the Goddess Aliza.’ said Lady Joanne Dee Mawr.