Touch of Fate

Chapter 290: Calling all the Angels

[Are they stupid? Do they really think they stand a chance? I could just leave, but then they'll probably start acting more boldly. On the other hand, killing them seems troublesome as well, since I'd prefer to not make an enemy of the churches. Ah, whatever, I'll start by removing the current threat.]

With an effort of will he pulled the inquisitors into the ground with Earth Magic, leaving only their heads exposed. Or at least he tried to.

The maneuver worked on the four subordinate ambushers, but Harold was somehow unaffected. Even the dirt around his feat failed to stir.

"Surprised, Devil? The goddess has seen fit to bless me with her divine protection. Your heretical magic will have no power over me!" The fanatic roared while drawing his sword and charging. "Now, suffer for your sins!"

Mike tried to use Dark Magic to tie the man in place, but discovered that it was equally ineffective. Curious, he tried a few more elements until he had some success with Light. The blinding flash he created caused the inquisitor to hiss in pain and cover his eyes before he was able to attack.

While Harold was still clutching at his face, he stepped forward and delivered a powerful punch to the man's midsection, causing him to collapse into a breathless heap.

[Looks like I can't directly affect him with magic, but he can still be subjected to the effects of spells that alter the environment in some capacity. Does he have some kind of resistance skill? That could be useful to pick up, if I could figure out how.]

He created a few bands of metal with his Earth Magic and bent them into something resembling giant staples. Rolling Harold onto his back, Mike drove the bands into the ground around the inquisitor's limbs, effectively pinning him to the dirt.

Standing up, he gave the man a disdainful look, "Now, let's try this again. Why are you attacking me?"

Harold stared back with something approaching lunacy in his eyes. "Though you may rend my body and destroy my flesh, you will never break my will!"

[Alright. That's quite enough of that.] He thought while sending a mental message to Selene. It was about time to make use of his familiar's unique skill.

It took her close to fifteen minutes to arrive, and during that time he was subjected to increasingly angry complaints from the restrained inquisitors. Thankfully, the area they were in seemed to be effectively deserted. Had there been any passerbys, it would have been difficult for him to explain the situation.

"What's going on?" Selene asked when she finally showed up. Something about the strange display seemed to be amusing to her. "Do you need some help with your human sacrifice?"

"Huh?" Mike looked around and realized that casual observers might interpret the unusual layout, with four equidistant heads and a restrained man at the center, as some kind of dark ritual. "Listen. These idiots attacked me, and it only ended up this way because I was defending myself."

"Sure, sure. Whatever you say." She shot back with a grin.

"Not going to argue about this. I'm trying to get some information out of them. See if you can figure out who sent them after me, and for what reason."

"Will do, boss."

Harold proved immune to her Harmonic Domination, but the other four were susceptible. A quick round of questioning revealed that they were members of a secretive branch of armed clergy belonging to the church of Aminatrea. Yesterday, they'd been tasked with eliminating Mike for the supposed reason of him being a monstrous being in disguise. To that effect, they'd been tracking his coach as soon as he left the Old City, and were merely waiting for an opportunity to ambush him. As far as he could tell from the way they described their mission, none of the participants were aware of his real identity. In fact, it appeared that they hadn't even considered the idea that the famed Dragonknight was their target.

[What's the point of all this? Surely anyone who knows enough to send assassins after me would understand that this bunch didn't have the ability to do more than mildly irritate me. A clumsy attempt to get me at odds with the church, perhaps?]

He had Selene continue the questioning in an attempt to figure out which member of the clergy was responsible for giving the order. Unfortunately, the mission had been handed down to the group's leader, Harold, and none of the other inquisitors were aware of who'd assigned them to it.

[Unless I'm willing to resort to torture, I doubt he's going to be willing to tell me what I want to know. That said, it would probably be faster to just go to the source.]

"Keep an eye on them for a bit." He muttered while mentally reviewing the layout of the city.

[Let's see. I think the main Aminatrean temple was in the Old City, a little southwest of the Span.]

"What? Where are you going?" Selene asked.

"I'm going to pay the heads of the church a visit. I'll be back soon."

"Ugh, fine. Just leave me to babysit a bunch of religious fanatics. That's just great. I mean, it's not like I am a member of a species that stands as the antithesis of everything they believe in or anything."

"That's the spirit." Mike shot back with a teasing grin. "Just try to keep them contained until I get back. It shouldn't take me that long, but if you have any trouble, send me a message."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Not sure why I bother working for such a callous individual." She grumbled as he took off.

"It's my winning personality, obviously." He called once he started flying, moving fast enough to avoid any comeback she might have sent his way.

It only took a few minutes before he was standing on the roof of the Aminatrean cathedral. Activating his stealth skill and using a bit of Dark Magic, he slipped inside and began his masterful plan of simply wandering until he stumbled upon something of interest. Of course, this was made more difficult by the size of the building itself.

It was at least five stories tall, not including any basements, and was designed in the shape of a hexagon with a large courtyard at the center, which seemed to be used for gatherings or ceremonies. Ordinarily, searching this place would take a few hours, but he quickly realized he would have trouble staying out of sight with all the people wandering the hallways.

Men and women in white robes flitted about the complex, bent on day to day tasks. Interspersed amongst them were several individuals wearing silver colored plate armor, decorated with inscriptions of sunbursts. While the first group seemed to consist primarily of individuals with classes like Acolyte, Priest, or Worshipper, the latter was exclusively composed of Paladins.

[I wonder if Cariel is based out of here...Anyway, I'm not going to make much progress if I have to stop and hide every few seconds. Better find another way.]

After a few minutes of carefully moving around the crowds, he found a room that seemed to serve as a kind of clothing storage. Hundreds of white robes were stacked on shelves throughout this chamber, and a bored looking acolyte sat behind a desk, dispensing them to visitors.

Sneaking past the sleepy youth, he grabbed one and put it on, before stepping back out into the hall and blending in with the rest of the crowd. Disguise in place, he continued wandering, hoping to find someone that looked fairly important. As he did so, he caught fragments of conversations from the people around him.

Most of it was uninteresting. Simply the daily minutiae of individuals going about their lives. From the sounds of it, there was a sort of monastic society living here under the command of some kind of high priest. It seemed that the people rarely left the confines of the temple, and didn't seem particularly concerned with what was going on outside.

The Paladins were a little different. Apparently, they belonged to the knightly order that was assigned to protect the complex, and although they had their own rooms here, they were allowed to leave freely.

After close to a half hour of this, he was beginning to reconsider his strategy, when he caught a bit of interesting conversation.

"...it was an actual angel!" A white robed Acolyte was excitedly explaining to his companion while the two were carrying a crate down the hallway. Mike surreptitiously followed them to listen to the rest.

"The goddess sent one to Ea? How can that be? I thought they were only able to act in the most dire of circumstances. You know," the other man leaned in and whispered, "like when the Hero shows up."

"That's what they're saying actually. Since none of the priests were given any Divine Inspiration regarding the angel's arrival, the augurs believe the goddess sent it to serve as the new Hero's guide."

"What? Did they actually get that from their divinations?"

"Well, you know that guy Gordon, the one who works in the Augury?" The first man asked.

"The one with the lazy eye?"

"Right, that one. Anyway, according to Gordon, who overheard the augurs talking, they've been trying to get a reading on the presence or absence of a new Hero ever since they heard about the angel. But, there's something unusual about the Hero's destiny that's keeping them from finding out anything at all."

"What does that mean? I thought those guys always got something back from their rituals, even if it's just a 'try again later' sort of deal."

"Ha! I'd like to hear you say that around them. Anyway, considering the kind of power that sort of interference would require, they've concluded that something on the level of a god is purposely obscuring the Hero's destiny. Of course, you know what that means..."

"...Shit." The other man replied, momentarily setting down his load. His partner took the opportunity to rest as well.

"Yeah. It's going to be bad, whatever it is. That's why the brass has been so keen on tracking down that angel. If anyone has an idea what we're in store for, it would be one of the goddess's direct servants."

In order to continue listening, Mike had to pretend to stop and adjust his boot laces. Of course, he only noticed after the fact that pretty much everyone here was wearing sandals. Thankfully, no one was really paying attention to him.

"So, they don't have any idea where it is?"

"Besides the fact that it originally landed around Wyrport and somehow got involved in the war against Lacot, they don't have much to go by. Angels take mortal form when they come down here, so they're hard to track if they aren't intentionally trying to be noticed."

[Sounds like at least one god is trying to track me, but I don't think they've had much success. After all, the only remotely angelic being I've come across recently has been Cariel, and I have a hard time believing she is capable of functioning on her own, let alone being entrusted with an important mission. No, it has to be someone else. Someone who's so far avoided interacting with me directly...]

"I guess it's just a matter of waiting until the Paladins track it down then."

"More or less."

The first man sighed and stared out a nearby window with a wistful look. "It seems that we've had the misfortune to be born during interesting times."

"Now, now. Don't say that. I'm sure the gods have everything under control. Anyway, do you remember where this box is supposed to go. I've plum forgotten."

"Me too. Luckily I wrote it down...Looks like it's meant for the Pontifex's office."

"Delivering cargo to the head of the church, and here I thought I'd never amount to anything." The man replied sarcastically.

"Ha! Come on. Let's get this over with. If we hurry, I bet we can still catch lunch."

Trying to remain unobtrusive, Mike followed after the talkative pair, suddenly feeling a lot more confident in his random roaming plan.

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