The shift from lazy days to immediate sleepless nights had been a difficult transition for brother Oblax. It was not so much that he now found himself much busier than he used to be, indeed he had much less time to look after his church itself, it was that his time was now spent containing the two Guan family members under his charge.

His black eyes scanned the pews for any bottles of wine Po Kahn may have consumed in here, or even blood from Po Daiyu’s forays into the labyrinth. Luckily, this morning seemed to have none of their chaos. If anything that only made him more anxious, as he worried about what damage they might be doing elsewhere.

Despite what orders he had received, his mission was not babysitting two spoiled children. No, this was a more divine mission. He felt it with every passing moment, every stolen glance into the room below at the treasure within. The soul relic was to be his. It was Oblax Claré’s destiny, no one else's.

If only he had been able to remove it from Yo Shen’s grip.

When removal of the artefact is attempted, signs of life can be seen in the barely breathing shadow of a man. The spear stabs angrily at any who get close. An acolyte whom brother Oblax had sent to test the limits of the damage was annihilated. There was no other word for the smear of gore that had been left behind in the room. The weapon had not reacted while Oblax cleaned the room, but he had gagged at the thought of the danger behind him rather than the viscera before him.

The loss of an acolyte is always a sad thing. However with the huge influx in true believers to the city of Allusia, brother Oblax was not lacking in hands for work. He sat in a chair to the right of the dais and worked, writing letter after letter, missives and orders for the flock. Everything needed to be perfect. Even worrying about the relic below needed to be saved for more private moments now.

The pope was on his way to Allusia, leaving the empire for the first time. The general public would not know of the moves in the upper echelons but Oblax was important. He knew as much and finally even the highest tiers of the church and beyond were paying attention. His work had been guided by the highest power. Now all that seemed left to do was wait.

Passively being in the right place at the right time had worked out for him well in the past and he saw no reason why that should not continue. While he worked his hands, performing menial tasks and signing away orders, his mind was working frantically. He needed to be the one with which the soul relic bonded… but how?

His mind aimed itself in the one direction he was certain the answer waited.

The face of Guan Ah Dan floated through his thoughts. Silver eyes that he was certain could see all of the colours of his soul. Something about looking at the boy had made him feel unclean in the way that looking at divinity would make one feel worthless. Something about the boy’s soul shone so brightly that Oblax had forgotten his original mission in the face of his assistance.

He had stumbled and flopped through his deception to the two children but that hardly mattered now. Whether they remembered him or not, Oblax knew, Ah Dan was not likely to help him get the soul relic.

He was likely to help Guan Yo Shen recover. The boy’s instinct had been to heal, without question of the cost to himself. Seeing the wounds on the thugs who had tried to mug him simply vanish in moments was a truly special moment.

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Brother Oblax had seen healing such as Ah Dan’s only one other time.

In the presence of a soul relic.

The pope of the empty church carried two soul relics, the whip and the sceptre. Each relic was said to have different properties, though all were immensely powerful weapons in their own right regardless. When Oblax had first seen the divine light of the sceptre perform the miracles that it did, he had thrown himself into the holy pyre and never looked back.

He felt a similar impulse upon meeting Guan Ah Dan. A shimmer in the soul, either his own or the boy’s he couldn’t tell, which pulled him along a path he trusted implicitly. Oblax had no compunction to change his ways now and his way was simply following his instincts.

Guan Ah Dan was the answer. He just needed to work out how to get a hold of him.

The doors to the church opened with a clatter. Anyone who was not a frequent comer and goer of the church would push the doors too hard and one would clack loudly against the stone wall as it swung. Oblax could have weighted the door slightly but he liked it. Most who entered brazenly once would only do so once.

This was the girl’s second time in the church but in fairness she hadn’t opened the door the first time.

“Ah, young lady,” Oblax beamed his most proselytising beam and spoke with all the energy of a man who had actually gotten sleep in the last week, “amazing to see you today, I admit I am a little busy but always happy to make time for a new convert. Is your friend coming?”

He hoped that he wasn’t too obvious in his attempt but Guan Fa Lian seemed to barely hear his words, instead rushing straight to his spot with a frantically worried look in her eyes. “I need your help, come with me.”

——————————

If Oblax’s life really did all come down to luck then he must be the luckiest man alive. Not even a minute had passed since he began truly thinking about how to get to Guan Ah Dan before the answer had quite literally sauntered up to him. As he followed Guan Fa Lian through the streets of Allusia, he thought about the different whims of fate that had led him to the cusp of his destiny.

A small child survives a massacre. Covered in the blood of his family and the bandits who attacked them, the child is taken in by the church. The church ignores the child for the most part, happy for him to grow into an acolyte and think nothing more about him, other than passing looks of pity.

That is, until the second massacre.

The monasteries of the empty church are a delectable target for the unsavoury types of the world. Not without enemies in its own right, the church was not attacked on a vendetta that night. That night had been greed and malice, knives and blood. Everyone’s blood but his.

Surviving two bloody exchanges and being the lone survivor had started something of a folk tale behind Oblax. They had called him the man who endured. He liked that. It had gotten him recognition and some small form of prestige. There were whispers that he himself had dispatched the attackers that night but who could look at Brother Oblax Claré and see anything but joy and light? A small few did but Oblax avoided them while they did the same and everyone was content.

Until the third slaughter.

Once was a tragedy. Twice was a coincidence. Three times was the pattern, apparently.

It was on this third occasion that Oblax had witnessed the majesty of a soul relic first hand. Two, in fact, though their use could not be more different. By that time, Oblax was a man, ready to be an integral gear in the machinations of the church. The attack by the disgusting demons had been quick, brutal and thorough.

Oblax himself had been quick to jump to the aid of his fellow clergy. Once the promise of true bloodshed appeared, Oblax had no interest in backing down. His ferocity, something hidden for enemy eyes only, had been enough to keep him alive. Only barely, however. He had clung to life like a cat clings to a tree just before it falls. Before Oblax could fall, he met Shin Boh Tahn.

He had marvelled when the divine sceptre’s light had rejuvenated him, the golden glow seeming to rewind the wounds he had received. It had been painful, but all healing was. It was not, however, the sceptre that Oblax desired.

The whip had captured his mind like nothing else possibly could.

He knew that his excitement over the weapon in his basement could not be abated, not in the face of potentially reaching Ah Dan. Definitely not while Oblax looked the current wielder’s sister in the face. Luckily, Guan Fa Lian placed her own worry onto Oblax and assumed that his consternation was for Ah Dan as well. That would work.

She had asked whether he could heal and he had said he could. This wasn’t untrue but any healing magic that Oblax could muster, so could pretty much anyone else. As usual, it would take all the luck in the world.

Oblax didn’t worry for a second.