Imperial Attention 4 – A Relic

It took them hours to get to the Cathedral of the 33. Even in a straight line, it would have been quite the distance and a straight line was no possibility at all. The organic and gradual growth of the city had caused it to develop a multitude of oddities. The quickest route was not always apparent and Yuzuki had not been in the city often enough to know them all.

Instead, they had to rely on the regular streets and they were either oddly aligned or crowded – often both. Every segment of their journey was ultimately marked by them ascending the staircase before stepping through yet another gate. The higher they went, the finer the clothing of the people and the more elaborate the decorations. While details became finer, colour decreased. Dark elves made up the majority of the nobility and they preferred their environments in darker tones. To them, living on the lower floors of the inner circles was a position of privilege. Where the sun never shone, they could sleep and govern according to their own rhythm. There were entire baronies under their feet, small feudal realms that existed within the layers of the city, focused around underground mansions.

The Cathedral of the 33 was none of those things. It stood bright and proud on the surface. Whenever the city had expanded upwards, the church district had worked to maintain all of its most important facilities on the surface. It took up the easternmost eighth of the last ring that surrounded the imperial palace. At the heart of manifold gardens, monasteries and smaller churches was the gargantuan cathedral. It was the most recent iteration of a structure that extended all the way down to the foundation of the city.

“What we see is merely the marble tip of a sacred tower,” Yuzuki stated.

They were so deep in the city that there were no more crowds. Indeed, they were so deep that there weren’t even that many guards anymore. Those that made it so deep into the vaunted capital of the Sleeping Empire had cleared multiple checks. It was simply assumed they could be trusted.

Even with that assumption, the party was regarded with a degree of displeasure. “Perhaps we ought to have changed clothes?” Aclysia suggested, tugging at the loose robe she preferred for travel. Though she kept it washed, the mud and grass that had dirtied it over the months had left permanent stains and she was by far the most presentable of the party. Only Yuzuki in her white-blue kimono appeared as a lady of high repute and even then, this was not her best wardrobe.

“Powerful adventurers may attract ire but well-dressed people are ignored,” Yuzuki countered with a simple nugget of wisdom. “Better to be seen when one wishes to see the bishop.”

In the hierarchy of the Omniversal Church, Bishops were the highest rank whose numbers were unlimited. It was from their ranks that the Cardinals were chosen, the 33 members who tried desperately to be ever-present in an endless world. Above them were the 11 Ecclesiarches, who each led an army to support the angels in the cleansing of the Branches. Above them was the Progenitor’s Chosen, she who could have become a goddess generations ago but chose not to so she could do more good as the link between divine and mortal.

 Apexus remembered these lessons from Gizmo as he stepped into the resplendent structure.

The cathedral was objectively gorgeous. More than the stained glass, the arches, or even the elaborate frescos, Apexus noted the expert architecture that constructed the silence. The way the distant walls and alabaster columns reflected their steps added a reverberation to their motions that echoed eternally, stirring spiritual wonder.

A priest soon approached them, his robes the midnight blue of Aranea, trimmed with the plain red of Meriala, the first of the summer gods. “What brings you here, children of the gods?” he asked in an even tone, bereft of judgement.

“We wish to speak with the bishop.” Yuzuki gestured at Aclysia, who pulled the scroll case out of her adventurer’s bag.

“A token of the Church’s favour towards us,” the guardian angel explained.

The priest was blind to Aclysia’s true nature and thus inspected the scroll without a tilt to his judgement. By quality alone, he knew these people had the standing to see the bishop. The content made certain of it. “I will inform his holiness,” he said and handed the scroll back. “Follow me, I will show you to his office.”

They were guided out of the vast centre of the cathedral and into the monastic complex surrounding it. The bishop’s office was technically still part of the Cathedral of the 33, but built into the outside wall in such a manner it practically disappeared between arches and spires. The priest gestured for the party to wait and disappeared behind a thick wooden door. Not two minutes later, he was back.

“The bishop will see you immediately.”

The party stepped into the vast chamber. Aclysia’s eyes scanned over the stained glass decorations and the depiction of the Omiverse above. She was reminded of the hellish days spent agonising over her darling’s death, trapped in the facilities of the Cardinal. Such memories were shoved aside. She did not want to taint her image of the Church by the mistakes of one man who had tried his best to right them.

Reysha retreated deeper into her mind, memories of burning flesh and murder rising. They failed to overwhelm her but they ached all the same. Korith, Apexus and Yuzuki all simply existed in the space.

Everyone but the Yuki-Onna was a bit surprised by the bishop.

He had a long, white beard growing from a pale face marked with the first signs of advanced age. His hair was a bit thin but still covered most of the head that appeared a bit large for the small body beneath it. A body that made him appear truly tiny in the magnificent chair that had been specifically made so the gnome could sit behind the regularly sized, hardwood table.

“An esteemed party, I have been sent word of you – Inevitable, I believe?” The old gnome spoke in an upbeat tone, words flowing quickly from his mouth. “You are from outside the empire, so let me introduce myself. I am Bishop Grados Glowinword. Please, just call me Grados!”

“I did… not expect a gnome to be the bishop of the Sleeping Empire,” Korith voiced what everyone else was thinking. “I-I am sorry, was that rude?”

“Not at all, simply showing a lack of knowledge about the local history, which is unsurprising, and even those short-lived species here rarely know it,” Grados put his small hands on the tabletop. “To keep the history quite short, before the Sleeping Empire there was another, led by my kind. I was elevated to this rank the year that empire fell and have served in my position for a long, long time since. You may consider me a living relic of a kind.” The gnome chuckled. “Or better not, I know how much you kobolds like to take valuable things.”

“That’s… not untrue,” Korith mumbled.

“So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?” Grados asked.

“We wish to secure the Church’s support in hosting a ball,” Yuzuki stated immediately.

“Mhm… I see. Well, it is not usually within the Church’s interest to get deeply involved in the internal politics of the Sleeping Empire.”

“That is the crux of the matter – the reason for this ball is that the Inevitable party wishes to announce that it will not be involved in political missions.”

“Ooooh, how interesting!” Grados stood up in his chair, boosting him to the height of Apexus’ upper chest. Rubbing his chin, he mustered all of them. “Does a party of your power warrant such a display? You are noble, but–” He stopped when Apexus silently placed his silver Adventurer’s Guild card on the table. “…How odd, I was not informed of you having so drastically increased in power during the hunting of Parasytes… something that should not be possible…” He rubbed his chin some more, ancient grey eyes pulling from a deep well of experience. “The Omniverse Chimera…” he muttered Apexus’ old title. “…I shall not ask how you achieved this power.”

“However?” Apexus asked, hearing the word implied.

“I recommend you visit… this location,” the bishop pulled a map of the city out from under the table. It was wholly inadequate to represent the true scale of it all, but the location he marked for them on the piece of paper was on the surface and just two districts away, being located to the south of the imperial palace in the same ring they were currently in. “As for your ball – you have the Church’s support. We are always glad to know that adventurers aren’t wasting their potential on seeking worldly power.”

“Wonderful – I would come again another time to arrange for the further details, once we have them?” Yuzuki turned her statement into a question with a slight tilt of her head.

The bishop confirmed and that was that.