"But are you sure, your Highness?"

The Elder looked feeble wringing her hands clothed in gray and plain robes, surprisingly simple if I considered her rank. Her eyes had plenty of life in them still, but sunk deep inside the wrinkled face. She looked hundreds of years old, if not for that twinkle, but the others ignored them.

"Hmpf!" The Princess answered and crossed her arms, her nose raised. Her dark purple hair rolled up in springy curls following her movements like a display of her emotions. The Elder's question upset her. "I'll have you know, my Aura Sense never failed before. But next time I'll keep it a secret to avoid you, bunch bothering me."

"Your Majesty!" The maids shrieked because the Princess did not hold back. She didn't care since she technically outranked us all, but the Elder advisor was only second to the Pope in the Church too.

"My royal blood guarantees that my aptitude is the strongest on the continent. Don't question me." She pointed at us and just like her hair, the frilly dress accentuated her moves. She looked pretty, but I couldn't call her cute, she annoyed me most of the time. "I'm only here because Papa asked me, but I don't have to answer you."

"Now, Princess, please calm down!" I tried to defuse the situation. As the only male here, I felt strange and it took all my courage to speak up in their presence, all the more reason to finish this quickly. "If you felt the Goddess Alexandra, the Church will send out a task force to deal with her. The Elder wants to make sure..."

"I care not about that Goddess or your Inquisitorias, just stop doubting my abilities, you, and the Elder both." She argued and tried to push us out of her richly decorated suite. Her maids panicked and bowed their heads as an apology to us. The Princess was difficult to handle today. "As I said, she appeared in the Kingdom of Cranta Proper, near the old capital. Do whatever you like with this information. Just leave my room, you lot bore me to death."

"Lady Elder, allow me to lead the task force!" The paladin bowed in the corridor. She already wore a full plate and carried an open helmet, an old but ornate piece, with red feathers to represent her allegiance to the Inquisitorias. Her short blue hair contrasted sharply and her pleasant face and small stature made people forget her strength. "If the Goddess returned, I will fight her."

"Hah! It's not like you can kill a God, you dumb knight!" The princess mocked her from the doorframe and she had a point. "The best you can hope for is to banish her, but this coward would scream and run away, right, Lambert? Are you still the only one who can cast banishment on the divine? Papa must have gone mad, when he entrusted your organization to protect the city and me."

Her mockery was not lost on me since others often reminded me of my failure to finish training too. She slammed the door before I answered, but arguing with her seemed pointless. The three of us decided to head back to the council's chamber.

"She spoke the truth, Lambert." The Elder said to me after a while. Her long, gray hair came undone and her hands looked fragile, almost skeletal. But her eyes... They just gleamed. I haven't seen her like that before. "Even with Cath's courage, swords can't harm a deity. We need your magic to banish her, this is your purpose in life."

"I... um... I thought it was to heal the soldiers of the church... I should be going now." I knew she was right, but leaving the walls of Sanctuary filled me with dread. She grabbed my arm way stronger than I expected and when I tried to say something, she silenced me with a glance. Even with my special status, I obeyed her orders, as no more than a sacrificial pawn.

"We have healers, both wizards and priests." She explained. "But only you know how to banish the enemies of mankind, it is your destiny."

"I didn't finish my training though, that's the only offensive spell I ever learned." I protested but she refused to let me go. "I can't fight if monsters attack us en route to the old capital. The spells I know work only against a deity itself, and she wields power that I cannot match."

"We each have our roles, Lambert, no need to fear, I'll provide protection." Cath took over as she put her ornate helmet on the grand table and unsheathed her sword. She held a giant falchion, almost the same size as her but swung it around like a child's toy. "I will take an oath to protect you, don't worry about monsters. You focus on the banishment of that Goddess, once we ride out with the Guards."

Stolen novel; please report.

"You can't take them." The Elder shook her frail head. She finally let my arm go and took the seat reserved for the Pope. This chamber was loud from advisors and strategists who'd argue and vote about the most important questions, but in the last few months, everyone deserted it, leaving it to decline. "We have our hands full to keep the roads open around Sanctuary. The citizens will starve if we can't protect the caravans from the countryside. They already suffer... The refugees have nowhere else to go. Since the Collapse, we protect humanity alone, so you need to fend for yourselves."

"Then why don't we just leave her alone?" I shook in my boots. Fend for ourselves? We certainly didn't stand a chance. "Only small tribes of the Lesser Races live near the old capital now. She might want to aid their survival as we protect the human race. Why assume ill intentions, when she means no harm? Our best bet is..."

"Did you forget how she destroyed our Empire?! How can you ask such things, Lambert?!" Cath interrupted me and slammed her fist into the grand table. This is how long her courteous behavior lasted. She quickly lost her temper after all. The Captain of the Guard was hard to impress, and easy to upset. "It took the entire Inquisitorias to force her to retreat last time and now she returned. Calling it a coincidence sounds nothing but cowardly to me. She threatens us all."

"Now, we don't know that." I attempted to argue, however pointless. She only listened to reason if that fit her views or mood, but I had to try. "And she also said it was an accident..."

"Just how do you think it's possible to make a civilization, that lasted a millennium disappear in a blink of an eye?! By accident!" The paladin fumed, passionate about the dogmas of the church. "No ill intentions? For all we know, she could arm the Lesser Races, and plan to take over the other continents too..."

"You surely jest..." I claimed but Cath lost her sensibility. Since any plan involved me, I tried to defuse the situation. The Goddess herself couldn't be that powerful... "She can't possibly pierce The Storms."

"No, I agree." The Elder joined in to my greatest surprise. She behaved apathetic most of the time, but her eyes bothered me. Something must have happened behind the scenes. "If the Princess felt her presence, we must act on it swiftly, even if the others saw nothing. We can't risk to ignore it. Like the greatest seers before her, royal blood flows through her veins. If the Goddess returned, there must find the meaning behind it."

"We can't even find her!" I yelled desperately. I ran out of options and needed them to understand. "Nobody else felt her presence. All we know is that she appeared near the old capital, but that area is vast. We would go out blind. Besides, she knows teleportation... She's the only one in the entire world, just how are we going to..."

"You got a point!" The paladin nodded. I got my hopes up, but it seemed to be in vain. She turned towards the Elder and suggested with a straight face. "It means we have to take the Princess with us too."

"What?!" I nearly screamed hearing her outrageous suggestion. Even if she yearned to fight, her idea surpassed all stupidity. "As the last surviving Princess of Cranta, Elizabeth can't be put in danger. Succession can't exist without her."

"These are desperate times." The Elder noted although I expected her to protest with me. Always the tactician, she held this office for longer than I lived... But now her wrinkled face displayed a disparaging smile that sent chills down my spine. I struggled to believe it, suspecting a plot in the background. "We must protect the Princess, the future leader of all mankind. But, if we don't act now, no humans will remain to rule over."

"It's not just that..." I shook my head. They all knew the Princess at the very least. "She won't take orders from anyone and lacks experience with the outside world. If anything, she would be a hindrance, a danger to herself."

"If she doesn't take orders, we just have to name her the commander, easy as that." The paladin claimed, after calming down somewhat. She flashed a smug grin, acting like a child, and wore her emotions on her sleeves. And this absurd idea seemed to make her proud of herself, what a madness. "I'll protect you both. You wield the power to banish the Goddess, and she will lead us to her, it's perfect. We won't even need auxiliary forces..."

"What?! No, how is this perfect? I never heard a worse idea!" I protested with all my might, even forgetting the difference in our ranks... While I rarely spoke my mind, I refused to follow up with this suicidal plan and forget the Princess, my life depended on it too.

"This is our only chance. Let us cast our votes!" The Elder flat out rejected me and I felt all the blood leave my face. She held the highest rank after the Pope, in his absence, she wielded the right authority.

To allow a mission like that, she only needed a simple majority vote to pass it through the council. Which practically ceased to exist a few months ago and her powers also consisted of the right to name new, temporary members if urgent questions arose.

She held too much power and couldn't even lose a vote like this one unless she made a mistake. But the Elder enjoyed the reputation of a cunning and ruthless tactician.

"Two in favor, I take you abstain?" She turned to me and then summed it up in a few seconds. "We found our solution, now prepare to leave for Cranta Proper, and find the Goddess with haste."

I had no illusions. This meant the end of me.