“No.”

“You can’t say no.”

Mufara crossed his arms.

“I can and I will. No, Father.”

Father Sapphire sighed.

“I know how valuable you are to the church and I’m aware that I cannot force you. But consider what it would mean for the city, especially our districts. His father is on the council. The Citizens would be incensed that one of us snubbed one of them. You’re too talented for this backwater, everyone knows you’ll be off to the main church soon. But the other Denizens? They’d be the ones paying for your refusal. More raids. More evictions. Worse services. Budget cuts. You know it’s true, they’re not above petty retaliation. Besides, his gemsoul is diamond, like yours. You’re the best person for the job.”

Mufara opened his mouth to respond, then, thinking better, closed it. He frowned. His scarlet cloak swished as he started pacing the width of Father Sapphire’s office.

“This is bullshit.”

Father Sapphire simply nodded, saying nothing.

“They can’t… But how… This is bullshit!”

Father Sapphire smiled, still saying nothing.

“This is complete bullshit! Bah! Fine, I’ll take that damn apprentice.”

Mufara threw his hands up, storming out of Father Sapphire’s office. He heard a muffled farewell through the door.

“Always a pleasure, Child Diamond.”

This early, the nave was completely empty. The sounds of divine chanting usually soothed him, but only his angry footsteps echoed in the chamber at this hour.

Mufara y Kibar, also known as Elder Brother Diamond, was thinking evil thoughts as he walked down the church steps. Absentminded, he stepped in some loxen shit on the side of the road. He sighed.

I guess it’s going to be that kind of day.

He’d become an Elder Brother only a year previously, but since the moment he’d put on the bellring, people had been hounding him to join their households, to teach their darlings, all sorts of commitments. He understood why, he was the youngest Elder in the entire region’s history at only twenty-three years old, and a clear genius, but he’d made it clear he hated the idea. He had his own goal to pursue. Apparently, no one cared.

The city of Kampe was a lively, friendly place in the morning. Wagons trundled down the road, pulled by hissing loxen, as stalls sold food on each side, proprietors opened up shop and newsboys ran around delivering the day’s news. Chittering dustwings filled the trees as they cleaned their antenna atop the black foliage. The sights and sounds of the city put the enforcer at ease, the smells less so. Today was Redday, so his cloak looked nondescript in the light crimson tint of the undersky.

This was one of the nicer areas, where wealthier Denizens lived, with a few of the poorer or more open-minded Citizens also calling it home. It was still not much compared to the affluent inner city, where the rich Citizens built their estates, but Mufara felt much more comfortable here than around that grotesque opulence.

Unfortunately, his new apprentice was a Citizen. Son of a bigshot, too. Joining the church was supposed to free you from the shackles of birth. Citizen, Denizen, those were labels meant to be shed once you put on the robes. But that’s just what people said. Reality always disappointed.

He only had to collect the boy by the end of the day however, so he planned to stop by his house first. He’d been out all night.

Unlike most enforcers, Mufara was pretty popular in the city, so he didn’t face the name-calling and hostile attitude that followed the others in his profession. Still, he didn’t know if he preferred this.

“Hi Brother Diamond!”

“Brother Diamond, I’ve made too much pie, come and eat some with me!”

“Brother Diamond, my daughter is back from the Academy, you should come say hello!”

“You l-look dashing today, B-Brother Diamond!”

“Brother Diamond, I love you!”

He fended off the countless propositions with an easy smile, a flourish of his hair and a unique compliment, leaving a trail of giggling, blushing maidens in his path. But the smiles didn’t reach his eyes.

His thoughts were turbulent as he stepped past gleeful children, pushy street vendors and bag-eyed commuters.

Despite his earlier grumbling, Father Sapphire genuinely had respected his wishes. It hadn’t stopped anyone from trying, but the requests never came through the church. Now some inner city Citizen had all but ordered him to foist his spawn onto the young prodigy.

Our branch commands less and less respect each year. Maybe I shouldn’t leave.

He ran his thumb over the bellring on his index finger. When Father Sapphire had placed it on his hand, the man had gotten a lot more honest and a lot less mysterious. He’d spelled out certain realities that Mufara had not wanted or not been able to see.

They worshipped an unpopular god. Even though He was one of the official gods of the city, Kiine gained fewer followers each year, and those that did join usually signed up with Mother Steel’s denomination, the Metalhearts. Gods know that she-demon had been trying to get them closed for years. Father Sapphire had been very frank. If not for Mufara’s spectacular rise, they likely would have already been shut down.

Rumours abounded that Mother Steel had had something to do with the previous Father’s death, Sapphire’s elder birth brother, Father Ruby. Nothing could be proven, of course, but Mufara worried the branch would have another “accident” the moment he left.

His thoughts were interrupted by a wild ball of blonde, screaming hair leaping at him.

Already on the sixth Harmonic, his senses were keen as a blade and his body was more than enhanced enough to easily catch the ball by its arm, holding it dangling in front of him.

“Your hair’s a mess, Tala.”

The child stuck her tongue out at him.

“Your life’s a mess, bitch!”

“Only because I’m not tired enough of you to kick you out on the street. Yet.”

“You can’t kick me out, this is my house!”

Mufara tutted, wagging his finger at her.

“I can do whatever I want until you’re sixteen. That would be five amazing years of peace and quiet.”

“FUCK YOU!”

“You too, you little shit!”

Tala screamed again, writhing around so much Mufara let her go for fear of her dislocating her own shoulder. She ran off down the road, probably to join her hooligan friends.

Mufara shook his head as he entered their house. She was a strange child. He hadn’t even known she existed before his brother died, and now she was his responsibility.

Going to the kitchen first, he prepared a quick meal, spicing and frying a large loxen egg over the woodstove, dividing it into several hearty sandwiches, which he left to cool on the counter.

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Then he went upstairs to run himself a bath. He preferred it cold.

As he washed himself, the sound of the door slowly opening whispered in his ears. Faint footsteps creaked the wood, clearly trying to be sneaky. Mufara grinned before shouting down at the intruder.

“Your lunch is on the kitchen counter!”

He heard Tala curse quietly, before the footsteps rapidly left, presumably after she swiped a few of the sandwiches. His niece loved to pretend she didn’t rely on him, despite the fact that he’d been raising her for the past four years.

Trying to, at least.

It hadn’t been easy. Even with all his professed talent, it had taken years of gruelling effort to reach the sixth Harmonic. Time that probably could have gone to teaching Tala better manners. But better this than her starving alone in the house she’d inherited. Or worse, preyed upon by those who wanted what she had.

He didn’t take all the blame for her vulgarity though, he knew a few of her friends were bad news. Especially the young boy, Uda. His family were notorious criminals and he was certain she wasn’t learning anything productive from that child. But the enforcer had duties, and couldn’t be here all the time.

After putting on a new change of clothes, he set off again, his cloak settling once more around his shoulders.

This time he made straight for the inner city.

Going through his usual routine of dodging requests for everything from a date at a tea house to outright marriage, he made his way through the red-tinged town.

He passed what looked like a scuffle in the street, but the two men stopped as soon as he depressed the trigger on his bellring, holding it open. Profusely stressing their deep friendship, the men nervously made peace under Mufara’s gaze.

Everyone knew not to make an Elder use the ring.

He approached the inner wall, passing the line of people and wagons waiting to be processed into the inner city. The guards noticed his cloak and waved him through, to the grumbling of those still in line.

The difference was immediate.

The roads in the inner city were immaculate, no discarded food or loxen droppings everywhere. The ornate buildings looked like they had their stone facades washed and polished every night. Perfectly spaced trees spread their jet-black leaves above perfectly coiffed bushes lining the road on each side, giving the Citizens plenty of walking room.

The people were fat and happy, luxuriously dressed in silken robes, velvet shirts and lace dresses. There was an air of whimsy about everything, as if someone had tried mightily to bring a fairytale to life in the environs.

Mufara hated it.

Pulling his hood up, he made his way anonymously deeper into the city, where the real money dwelled.

The councilman’s house, if such a structure could still be called that, towered over a large estate, with a private pond, a mushroom garden and a lawn of manicured black grass.

Refusing to go in, he told the guard at the estate gates to call the boy out. The man returned sheepishly.

“The young master is getting ready. In the meantime, his mother, the mistress of the house, would like to make introductions over tea.”

Mufara rolled his eyes. He’d heard that one before.

“Is that her spying me through the window?”

The guard scratched his head.

“Never mind, you wouldn’t be able to see anyways. Tell her I have urgent church business to attend to, I don’t have the time.”

He certainly had the time, just not the inclination to fend off perfumed flirtations from a married woman. A Citizen, no less. Better he just left.

The guard went back, and after a couple of minutes, returned with a bright-eyed, dark-haired boy of around fourteen. The kid’s eyes widened when he saw Mufara by the gate, and he ran the rest of the way, nearly crashing into the enforcer in his excitement.

“Elder Brother Diamond! It really is you! I’d hoped you’d be my master, I really hoped, but daddy wouldn’t tell me anything! Ooh, I’ve heard so much about you! Is it true you’re already at the peak of the mid-Harmonics? What’s it like having a Resonant Core that powerful? Can you really eat pure diamond? Will I be able to do that? How many divine beasts hav-”

Mufara raised his hands in defeat.

“Whoa whoa, how about we relax for a second? Make some introductions, maybe?”

The boy slapped himself on the forehead.

“Oh gods, I’m making a fool of myself, aren’t I? I’m Liridan kh’Redoli y Gredar but you can call me Dan! Or call me whatever you want, I don’t mind! You don’t have to introduce yourself, everyone knows you. All the kids at my preparatory followed your career, ever since you singlehandedly defeated the rodent broodmother at only the second Harmonic-”

Mufara couldn’t help but grin as the boy gushed endlessly in the background.

A fan, huh? Well, it could’ve been worse. At least he’s not a brat.

He led the boy away from the estate, eager to get out of the inner city. Mother Steel’s church was in here.

They made quick time, Liridan barely taking a breath all the while. Only once they passed through the inner wall could Mufara feel at ease again.

All he had to do was take the boy back to the church and get him registered as an official neophyte of Kiine, apprenticed under him and the Gemsouled. As much as the man grumbled, he knew their denomination needed new blood and a young, rich Citizen was exactly the kind of recruit every church wished they had more of.

These days, Fernum was the most popular god among the youth. As one of the big four, He was always going to be a preferred pick, but His church was packed every day, even early in the morning, and they had several classes full of new Enforcers.

Must be nice.

He wasn’t envious.

A group of girls waved at the pair and Liridan happily waved back. People greeted them as they passed and the boy brightened with each new interaction. As they soaked in the attention Mufara naturally attracted, the boy seemed to shine, becoming more animated. He probably thought this was the normal life of an enforcer, that all the stories of fame, glory and an adoring public were true.

To be young and hopeful again. Enjoy it while it lasts.

After traversing the outer city for a while, he noticed Liridan gazing about himself with an inquisitive air.

Huh. The kid has probably never been beyond the inner walls before.

Mufara decided to show him the “scenic” route, through the roughest neighbourhoods. He needed to see what real enforcement meant and the people who needed it most.

As the surroundings got dirtier and dingier, Liridan grew quieter. Once he saw that all the children playing in the street had no shoes and ratty, threadbare clothes on, he went completely silent. When they came across the first dreem addict, emaciated and dishevelled, he looked away.

Sorry kid, better get used to it. You chose to manifest a gemsoul rather than a metalheart.

His only exposure to the enforcement wing of the church of Kiine was the shiny Metalhearts with their swanky uniforms, regimented patrols and courtly manners. They didn’t come out of the inner city except to terrorize the Denizens, but inside the walls they were the height of respectability. Mufara wanted to spit just thinking about it.

The Gemsouled weren’t the only church with enforcers in the outer city, but they were the only one that hadn’t dipped into the city’s Church Development Fund, thus not beholden to the Citizenry, and so didn’t have to meet arbitrary arrest quotas. They relied completely on tithes and goodwill, and were loved for it, but outer city Denizens weren’t exactly clamouring to join the clergy. Most enforcers were seen as the enemy, no matter the god.

A flash of blonde caught his eye.

Tala?

He wasn’t sure but he thought… Yes, there, one of Tala’s friends running into an alley.

What were they doing in this part of the city?

Definitely up to no good.

Motioning Liridan to keep silent, they quickly followed. The boy was excited again, thinking they were doing real enforcement work instead of just tailing the enforcer’s delinquent niece. Mufara didn’t burst his bubble.

Managing to track the group of kids deep into the outer city, Mufara slowly grew more and more nervous. This was gang territory. People here didn’t know him. He was completely safe, but Liridan was only at the first Harmonic.

What are you doing here Tala?

He saw the small group of kids congregate in an alley, before one of them pushed her out into the street. She turned back and stuck her tongue out at the pusher, before taking a deep breath and walking up to one of the houses.

Mufara was rapt.

Tala knocked on the chipped, flaking door.

Liridan tapped the enforcer’s shoulder to get his attention, but Mufara waved him off.

Tala started crying. Great big sobs shook her tiny body as she stood in front of the house.

Mufara was fascinated. He’d heard her cry before, but only very late at night when she thought he was out, and she would do anything to pretend she’d never shed a tear in her life. Now she was crying in the street?

Liridan tapped his shoulder again, but Mufara waved him off once more.

What’s your game here?

His enhanced ears picked up movement at the door. Someone was undoing a series of locks and what sounded like disabling a few traps.

“Elder Brother Diamond, sir?”

He sighed.

“What is it, Liridan?”

“Uh, it’s just that those people on the roof are watching that girl too.”

As if on cue, everything started happening at once.

Mufara’s head whipped around to see two figures leap off the roof of the opposite building as the door swung open. His fear crystallised as they shook off silence shrouds, revealing activated Resonant Cores, to which several Cores in the house flared up in response.

Unsanctioned avatars. Heretics. Criminals.

Shit was about to go down.

And Tala was right in the middle.

Mufara flicked the trigger on his bellring and a single, pure note reverberated out.

Tuned to his specific frequency, the sound jumpstarted his Core as it resonated, vibrating and driving divine energy through his gemsoul as the harmonies crescendoed within his body, strengthening him, bettering him, bringing him closer to his god.

His Core sang like a heavenly host, drowning out all others. His eyes glowed with righteous fury as everyone turned towards him.

He thrust his hand into the air, the red light refracting off a pillar of pure diamond he extruded. With a thought, he pushed more energy through his gemsoul, his Core vibrating to the limits of the sixth Harmonic.

The glittering pillar expanded, surging upwards and outwards, rising and crashing like a scintillating wave around them, forming a massive dome of diamond that covered the house, the street, the alley and everything else in a hundred metre radius. A kaleidoscope of red stars played across the inside of the dome as the crystal scattered the light in all directions, breaking up the undersky into countless shards of vermillion.

With his hand still upraised, Mufara strode forward, a gargantuan diamond sword growing out of his palm.

As he reached the assailants, who were now frozen in fear, he passed them without a second look. His attention was on the girl scowling at him, arms crossed, a defiant set to her jaw.

He squatted in front of her, hefting the sparkling blade onto his shoulder, looking her directly in the eyes.

“Before I kill these blasphemers, I’m going to give you one chance to explain.”