April 8th, year 024 Angels Descent
It was the day of the Cardinal of Benevolence's arrival, and the entirety of the upper echelons of Academy City had come out to the Grand Square on the bottom Plateau to welcome him. The class were feeling nervous under thousands of gazes as the rest of the city had also come out to see the man’s arrival. Not a single person wasn’t in their finest clothing.
Especially noticeable was the Great Gate of the walls of the city. Usually, they would only open the lesser gate, which was large enough for multiple carriages to pass through abreast with space to spare for foot traffic. But in preparation for the Cardinal’s arrival, they had opened the further three great gates. Before the assembled people, there was now a grand opening in the city walls that made them often feel so safe from the outside world.
The past week had been especially crazy for the class as they had been called to Sloth’s office the day after they had met Anubis and been asked to prepare an itinerary for Benevolence. So they had been scrambling with what to do and had, in the end, decided on a sightseeing tour of the city.
When they had revealed this plan to Alex, he had given it his full approval. However, what had only planted a seed of doubt was that he had an Alex-grin on his face when he agreed to it. This was what the class recognised as his mischievous grin.
As the time passed, with them nervously sweating on the stage prepared, the class noticed Alex was wearing some kind of necklace that looked like a choker.
“Sir, what is that necklace?” Daisy asked in a hushed whisper, unable to bear the silence in the square.
“This is an invasion collar,” Alex casually replied.
“I’m sorry, sir, did you say an invasion collar?” Maxwell asked in a shocked hushed whisper.
“Yes,” Alex replied with a nod.
“What’s that?” Daisy asked.
“I only know about it because I read about it when training with Lord Insithrilax. It is a torture device so terrible it is strictly controlled.”
The class all looked at Alex, aghast. Their experiences with him so far and certain throwaway statements he had made towards Elissa had hinted he might have a certain way about him. But to wear such a device when meeting the equivalent of a Sinful Lord from a foreign nation was absurd.
“Why are you wearing such a device, sir?” Maxwell asked in a hushed hiss.
“There were a lot of worries I might lose my temper meeting such a big wig from the Theocracy. Especially considering how I dealt with the high priest, they sent my way a few years back.”
“What did you do?” Tasha asked.
“Let’s just say despite the fact gods are very much real, I got him to become an atheist.”
This statement was one of the craziest statements they had heard from the teacher since joining his class at the start of the year. To become a high priest in the Theocracy, you had to forge a bond with a god. In fact, the only way to rise above a simple priest level was to prove you had contact with the gods.
So the fact Alex had gotten a high priest, someone who would know with one hundred percent certainty that the gods exist, to become an atheist was a feat in of itself. The class wisely chose not to press further into how their teacher had shattered the faith of a man who communed with the gods regularly.
“So the collar will activate and cause you pain if you try to hurt the Cardinal?” Bea asked.
“That’s not how it works, Bea,” Maxwell began.
“An Invasion collar is a terrible piece of ancient magic. It is, as the name suggests, it allows the interrogator to invade the wearer.”
“Invade the wearer?” Tasha repeated.
“Yes, they can invade the wearer's mind and force them to see the worst their imagination has to offer, all to dredge up the information they are hiding. Unlike the finger bone-pulling torture we are no doubt aware of, this one leaves no physical injury. So it doesn’t suffer from the issue of them saying anything to stop the pain. The information they are after will be given if it is there.”
“Why don’t they use it more, then?” Daisy asked.
“It more often than not shatters the recipient's mind,” Maxwell replied as he shot a worried glance at their teacher.
“Oh, don’t give me that look. The collar can be used for more than to show a person's nightmares. In my instance, it is so the one linked to the collar can channel happy thoughts into my head.”
“Who is the controller then?” Maxwell asked Alex in response, thrusting a thumb over his shoulder towards Elissa, who looked bored.
“If it can be used for pleasant feelings, then why don’t they use it for that more often?” Tasha asked.
“Simple invading a mind is still very unpleasant for the person being invaded. The only exception is like with soul pressure. If a person wholly loves you, then the impact is lessened.”
“Fair enough,” Maxwell replied, deciding just to accept the logic, having long since given up giving anything close to resembling a flying something.
“Sir… Sir…” Tasha began with her own hushed question.
“Yes, Tasha?”
“Why are all the gates open? I thought we only opened that many for the Dark Lord?”
“It is true, but in this instance, they are all being opened due to necessity. We have received word the Cardinal is travelling using earthen drakes.”
This managed to surprise the class, who had long since grown immune to the strange emotion. An Earthen Drake was a kind of dragon that would never gain sapience. But in return, they became nigh invincible. Not to mention they nearly all grew to giant proportions. It was no wonder why they needed to open all the gates to allow the Cardinal to enter.
As they thought this over, a loud horn was blown from the top of the ramparts of the walls. Looking up, they could see some of the gate guards waving flags to signal the Cardinalw as about to arrive.
With this signal, every soldier and noble present stood to rigid attention. Even Alex, who was usually very bad when it came to greeting high nobility, was on his best behaviour. This alone told the class how seriously he was taking this visit.
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A few minutes passed of everyone standing rigidly when a deep beat began reverberating the ground. It was like a house-sized drum was being stuck. Soon the glint of the sun shining off polished armour of the Crusader Guard leading the way began to glint through the gate.
Accompanying the Crusaders were countless men on horseback hitting drums while others had horns to blow. It was a triumph of an arrival. Something even Hadean would’ve fully approved of. What was most impressive was how they arrived.
Normally when a large collum of people marched into a city, there would be even a little disorder. But even the horses were walking in lockstep. Before the class's very eyes, they could see a few hundred men walking in perfect unison.
“CLEAR THE WAY!!!” The Crusader Knights all shouted in one voice. “CLEAR THE WAY!!!”
The civilians who had been mulling around the square to get a look at the Cardinal readily obeyed their orders, clearing even more room in the square. With even more room cleared and the music still being played, they began to arrive.
The first was a quartette of horned earthen drakes that took up the entire width of the gate. They were large beasts with a trio of horns on their head and a sizeable shield-like frill that kept their rider safe. Each of their steps shook the earth around them alone. But together, they created vibrations that even began to knock the dust off the roofs of the surrounding buildings.
The spectacle was already at a fervour pitch, and that is when the light in the square began to fade. Looking through the gates, everyone could see a silhouette start to blot out the sun.
Slowly lumbering towards the city was an Earthen Drake taller than the city walls were. It had a long tree trunk thick neck atop which rested a fearsome head covered in boney armour plates. The sight of this beast alone would’ve caused many a warrior to pale. But the sight that drew all the attention was what was resting on its back.
Resting on the back was an entire church. The outsides of the church were coated in what were clearly precious stones and metals. The sun shone at perfect angles; now it was inside the square, causing its stained glass windows to wash the square in a rainbow of colours.
Out of the church on the beast's back were two balconies. The lower one is where the class assumed the driver was situated. But on the highest balcony looking down upon the people of Academy city, was a man in a hooded priestly robe.
The Giant Earthern Drake's footsteps, now it was through the wall, shook the earth as if an earthquake was happening. Looking at its legs, the class could see they were taller and thicker than even a great oak tree. Some of its steps even dislodged some of the roof tiles of the nearby houses.
“So this is an Earthern Drake; Sithy is still bigger when he goes full-sized, but still to tame such a beast,” Alex muttered, not being immune from the awe of the spectacle before him.
The man they could now tell was the Cardinal of Benevolence began waving to the crowd before giving his crozier a wave, causing an explosion of holy light to burst above the entire square raining down the gods' blessings upon the people.
The entire parade that had just finished entering the city made a single circuit of the square before the large Earthen Drake stopped in front of the stage. Lying down as low as it could go, a tower on the side of the church lowered down, revealing a set of stairs within.
A quartette of men in incredibly ornate suits of plate armour descended the stairs towards the stage. Soon followed by an old man in a simple priestly robe. The man descended the stairs at a steady pace using his crozier as a walking stick.
“So this is the Cardinal of Benevolence,” Alex muttered, looking at the old man.
The class couldn’t help but agree with his tone. Despite the genuinely staggering entrance he had just performed, the man seemed somewhat lacklustre in comparison.
Arriving at the stage, the Cardinal greeted everyone assembled with a warm and welcoming smile. One that shone through his wiry grey beard. The class, though, were yet to see his eyes as they were concealed behind his priestly hood.
“It is an honour to make your acquaintance. My name is Johan Pleiades, the Cardinal of Benevolence,” The class were surprised by his voice. They had been expecting fire and brimstone, but instead, they got a soft-spoken old man who seemed more like a grandfather figure than one of the leaders of their homeland's long-time enemies.
“Likewise, my name is Victor Guntherian, also known as the Sinful Lord of Sloth,” Sloth replied. Striding over to the Cardinal, Sloth gave a brief bow of his head in respect, to which the Cardinal returned the gesture. He then went about greeting each of the assembled nobles, kissing the hands of the ladies and giving a bow of his head to the gentlemen.
Just as he was about to reach Alex and the class for their turn, three children amongst the onlookers stormed out of the throng of people.
“BASTARD THEOCRACY, WE HATE YOU!!! GO HOME!!!” One of the children shouted as all three threw rocks at Benevolence.
The crusader guards all failed to react in time as the rocks flew with a perfect trajectory towards Benevolence’s head. Before anyone could respond, he spun around and caught all three rocks with ease.
“SEIZE THE ASSASSIN!!!” The Crusader Guard with a bright blue plume to his helm ordered. All at once, the crusader knights in the square drew swords and began to approach the children, who were quickly starting to panic.
“Why?” The Cardinal asked.
“My Lord, they tried to assault you?”
“Of course, they didn’t. These children clearly heard of my juggling skills and merely wished to see them. But before this big scary crowd of people, they clearly went about it the wrong way,” The Cardinal replied as he began showing off a dexterous display with the three thrown rocks. Throwing one up and down in each hand while throwing the third between his hands.
“I THANK YOU, CHILDREN. I SELDOM GET A CHANCE TO DISPLAY SUCH SKILLS!!! MEN LEAVE THEM BE; THEY ARE BUT CHILDREN!!” The Crusaders who had been approaching the children with drawn swords sheathed them and returned to keeping an eye on the crowd.
“I must apologise for the lapse in security, my Lord,” Alex said as he bowed his head.
“Worry not, my son; they are children. Children will always be misguided without a shepherd. I will leave their punishment to their parents and leave it as a simple ploy to show off my juggling skills,” Benevolence replied with a warm smile that could’ve melted even the Ice Emperor of the frozen north's heart.
“Besides, I would think being too harsh on children when I have been eager to make your acquaintance for over twenty years would leave a bad taste in your mouth,” he added as he pocketed the three stones.
“Indeed… It is an honour,” Alex replied with a forced smile. The class could see clearly that the collar had a few runes already lighting up.
“Ha-ha-ha-ha,” Benevolence gave a hearty laugh at the sight of his gritted teeth.
“Please don’t stand on ceremony on my behalf. I can only imagine how you have suffered, that you’d like nothing more than to stab me to death with my own ribs?”
“Heavens forbid,” Alex replied less forcefully this time.
“We have a few weeks here, so we can organise a dinner where you will be free to release all that pent-up hatred and bile in my direction if it would help you,” Benevolence replied.
“Please allow me to introduce you to my students. I understand you were interested in meeting them,” Alex said through gritted teeth as he gestured to the class.
Seeing their signal Daisy stepped forwards to represent their class. This had been decided as while they were all sufficiently high-status, Daisy was the only one who was technically human. So she would cause less offence to a Theocracy Leader.
“It is an honour to meet you, my lord,” Daisy said, giving a picture-perfect curtsy.
“Honour is all mine. I can only lament I delayed my journey in South Bridgeton; I would’ve been able to enjoy your tournament. I understand you all showed such great power.”
“You honour us too greatly, my lord,” Maxwell said, stepping forwards and genuflecting before the Cardinal, shortly followed by the rest of the class.
“I understand you have been given the truly troublesome task of organising some of my schedules for the duration of my stay?” Benevolence asked with what looked like a very Alex-like grin.
“Yes, my lord. We have organised the best that Academy City has to offer. Starting with a sightseeing tour,” Daisy replied.
“Sightseeing?” Benevolence repeated, his grin growing more Alex-like by the second. “I love sightseeing—nothing like taking in the sights. Amisidious, Lobates, we are going sightseeing tomorrow,” he said, turning to two of his guards.
“By your will, sire,” both men said, thumping their chests in salute.
“I can’t wait to see everything this city has to show me,” he added as he lowered his head, revealing bandages bound around his eyes.
The class couldn’t help but shoot a glare Alex’s way, realising Alex knew all along the Cardinal of Benevolence was blind, and that was why he found her sightseeing plan so amusing.