--Eyna--

Eyna took a stroll to the southern city gate. Actually, she was more or less still following the original plan of the demons. Even if she had the thought of betraying them during this commotion, in the aftermath she wouldn’t live very long. A mortal human holding a treasured artifact was the same as shoving its own grave. The forces from hell already knew her identity, so not even the most remote edge of the world was safe. Naturally, she couldn’t hope for the angel’s protection. They would just happily take this priceless object and condemn her as a heretic. No matter what option Eyna would choose her dead body would lie on the cold ground eventually.

Therefore, Eyna stuck to the prepared schedule. To evade the attentiveness of the angels she faked curious glances at the countless shops lining along the main street.

It was an open market with moveable stalls creating a gigantic maze seemingly with no bounds. There may have been some sort of grander structure in the arrangement of the stands. But for a blind person, who lacked the ability to grasp the big picture, the marketplace turned into a major headache to just find the correct path.

Luckily, not many people were present in the morning. In one or two hours the passageway would be brimming with eager citizens trying to beat down the prices the vendors had set. Right now, only the stall owners were busied preparing their wares for the incoming flood of customers.

Therefore, Eyna had it a little bit easier to navigate through the complex labyrinth. She passed by a stall selling their last supplies of seasonal chestnuts. The holder was preoccupied putting up the price tags, disregarding her presence entirely. With an imperceptible flick of her hand, one of the spiky fruits landed in the depths of her pocket.

Eyna continued her journey without any change in expression. Vendors were often more laid back and didn’t think much about the possible theft of their goods. Under the angel’s rule, all sinners must be punished accordingly and they pursued anyone who went against the holy scripture. Therefore, few people dared this risky act. One must only beware of the most starving people whose life was near its end anyway. Their last desperate actions weren’t restricted by the fear the divine beings exerted.

Even though Eyna’s outer appearance had plummeted abysmally low, her personal radiance was still far away from the aura of these hopeless beggars. Hence, she didn’t catch the attention and suspicion of the stall owners and her existence was neglected.

Eyna reached the gate. A cold shadow lay upon her, cast by the towering walls in front of her. Although she was blind, she still could feel the oppressing power of the defense facility built high up into the sky. In the past, this wall was said to be able to hold up against even the greatest armies a country could deploy. However, the builders apparently didn’t take godly creatures into account.

With their capabilities, even the highest wall was pointless as they already roamed flying freely through the skies. No material a wall was built of would hold out a single flick of their fingers. And no matter how many mortal troops were defending on the battlements, they wouldn’t cause even the slightest scratch on their divine bodies.

Now, the towering wall only reminded the humans of their own inability and powerlessness. Never could they reach the sky, as they were destined to be suppressed by the strong. It was an insurmountable border, humanity had built itself.

A queue had already formed in front of the gatehouse. It mostly consisted of keen traders, using the few sun hours a day to travel directly to the next larger city. The terrain outside the city was especially at night a dangerous place to stay. The heavenly forces concentrated their presence only in more inhabited areas and didn’t spare any thoughts about deserted forests.

Through the constant suppression inside the towns and the ever stagnating economy, many criminal bands had settled in these lands, and raids on unprepared travelers were commonly seen.

Eichstätt was located near the one battlefront separating them from the demons. Although the border had only moved a few meters in the past century, it wasn’t a place one could settle on safely. Stray bullets flying from the battleground over to the forest were seen as a regular occurrence. These devastating divine attacks hit the ground at random locations and eradicate any living organism in its area of effect. Without the support of angels, humans could not move there any stationary troops to fight back against the growing gangs. Therefore, bandit groups were able to grow unrestricted as no other power would limit its expansion. As a countermeasure, many traders traveled in groups, sometimes even accompanied by a few mercenaries to ensure their safety.

The people waiting in line before Eyna had probably formed one of these tactical alliances and were already conversing with each other in a familiar fashion. Because in the early morning nobody would enter the city, two queues were leading out of Eichstätt.

Eyna, who had chosen the right line, caught up with a wooden cart resting on the other column. It was brimming to the top with local goods of Eichstätt. On one side, it consisted of different metal and woodworks, loudly rustling each time the cart moved forward. The other half of the cargo seemed to be fresh food, pervading through its containers to Eyna’s nose. The merchant probably wanted to export these wares to other cities in order to sell them at a higher price.

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Eyna’s hand dove into her coat pocket where the stolen chestnut and an empty casket were located. She locked the spiky fruit in the iron box and pulled it out to open air. Hereon, the item landed quietly on the adjacent cart, blending in with the other inorganic products. The merchant next to her hadn’t noticed the particular addition to his assortment.

The one at the front of the line was successfully checked and they all could move a few steps forward. It took a much longer time to check each person than the demons had estimated beforehand.

Admittedly, it was Eyna’s fault that the inspections were this meticulous. With the incident at the train, the alertness was extremely elevated. However, her plans didn’t allow Eyna to return to the hideout which probably fervently upset her demonic contractee. She could nearly feel the murderous gaze staring at her from a few hundred meters away. The demons naturally didn’t dare to near the gate after this turn of events, so they had to stay all the way back.

The queue moved again and Eyna fully disappeared under the archway of the gatehouse. Two high-pitched noises could be perceived by Eyna which announced the presence of multiple angels. However, a third and different type of noise penetrated all the way to her ears. It was a mechanical rattling similar to the turning of interwoven gear wheels.

Eyna’s blood turned cold. Goosebumps spread across her skin and she began to shiver involuntarily. However, the rising emotion was not fear but burning hatred. Fists clenched until they had turned white Eyna stared with her non-existent gaze up to the emotionless being. Her otherwise calm facade had contorted when she was reminded of the past memories.

The one and only time she had last seen a throne was five years ago. Which was certainly conceivable as they were worlds apart from your standard angel. Most humans never met in their lives any divine beings other than the angels and archangels. Mortals were not significant enough for them to meet any higher ranks of the hierarchy of the heavenly forces.

Yet, Eyna could still vividly see the appearance in front of her eyes as if it was yesterday. Thrones were in the form of a giant doughnut-shaped object, similar to a wagon wheel. Six mechanically moving wings would let the creature hover above the ground and countless eyes would watch each and every movement happening in its surrounding.

The one true God had given them an essential task to carry out. To bring judgment and to maintain the cosmic harmony of all universal laws.

This commission gave the thrones an ability that even the demons feared. It was the power to see the sins of any beings by looking through their eyes. Thrones had no need for emotions and lacked any trace of personality. They just mechanically actualized the commandments written in the holy scripture. Like the continual ticking gears of an intricate clock, they were striving to fulfill their only use until the end of time.

Only a few moments had passed since Eyna had detected the presence of the throne. In the blink of an eye, the calm dementor resurfaced back on her face and any hint of agitation had been sealed back into the depths of her heart.

"Is something the matter?" A voice pulled her back to reality completely. It was the city guard tasked with checking their belongings. The queue in front of her had disappeared and it was already her turn to be searched. He seemed a little bit irritated presumably because of the amount of work early in the morning.

"No, Nothing," Eyna quickly answered the question and stepped forward. She didn’t have the power to annihilate all these damned godly beings... yet. Therefore, she could only suppress the rising emotions. Her eyes moved around occasionally, imitating the gaze of a normal person.

"I need to search your belongings. Enhanced measures have been taken ever since this morning," the soldier explained.

"I understand, be my guest," Eyna replied without batting an eye. Even a polite smile appeared on her face. She cooperatively gave the bag of potatoes to the soldier.

Pleased with the readiness to help, he swiftly began laying its content onto the floor. Eyna didn’t let it show on her calm face, but she was actually very discomposed. The iron casket was still inside the bag that was currently being emptied. There was no real other hiding space to conceal the artifact adequately. So she had not changed its hiding place. Once the item was found all hope would be lost.

While the city guard was still preoccupied with his task a monotone voice suddenly resounded through the gatehouse. Eyna’s blood froze when she heard the noise coming from the flying throne above her.

“PURLOYED ENTITY DETECTED. ON BEHALF OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE THIS IS AN ILLICIT BREACH OF THE COMMANDMENTS.”

The throne’s speech did not have any rhetoric capabilities as it just emotionlessly recapitulated his observation. Nevertheless, the surrounding immediately turned silent, dazed by the unexpected revelation. Only the oscillatory clicking of the mechanical throne was left echoing through the hall.

The other angels were the first to act, by raising their powers to a combative state. Whereas humans were unable to directly detect the divine energy waves permeating through the room, their most rudimentary instincts still reacted to it. Eyna’s hair stood on end and she could feel goosebumps spreading over her skin. Her primal intuition cried relentlessly of the impending death.

It was not until the chill made its way to the bones that the mortal soldiers took action. With the ringing sound of metal, swords were drawn out of its scabbards. Hasty steps indicated the enclosure of the presumed criminal. In a matter of seconds, a few dozen soldiers and two angels had surrounded the perpetrator.