The snow in Diell City had stopped falling, though the weather was still cold. Gray clouds swirled in the sky, as if waiting for permission to begin another storm. At the intersection between Crow Street and Emperor Street, a group of figures was recuperating from a recent ordeal.

  Adam, his black hair slick with sweat and melted snow, supported a beautiful young woman with his left arm. Hannah’s blonde hair hung messily down her back, and her yellow Diell dress was torn in numerous places where she skid on the cobblestone. Spots of red blood, still drying in the cold air, could be seen. Her usually bright and piercing emerald eyes were unfocused and dazed.

  Supporting Hannah’s other side was a taller young man. Hellig’s blonde hair was no less slick than Adam’s, and his face was flush. Cuts and bruises could be seen across his body, and his vest and pants were cut in many places. The golden halberd was once again slung on his back, emitting a faint yellow light and warmth.

  At the opposite side of the street, Jezebel, Hannah’s dark haired maid, was being helped up to her feet by Gusto. The usually loud and obnoxious Chosen had dried blood around his nose and mouth and his breathing was haggard and rough. Despite him not having been actively struck by any of the attacks that were flung around in the street just now, the powers granted to him by the Realm he had begun to harmonize with were an attack in and of themselves.

  The cobblestone street was shredded in many places, with broken shards of stone or flash frozen dirt a common sight. Entire stretches of the road were dug up by claw marks or had craters inside that one could easily break a leg in if they weren’t careful. If the road was any less wide, the damage may well have spread to the nearby buildings as well. Thankfully, this was not the case. Whether it was pure dumb luck, the Diell Day festival, or some other intervention, there had been no onlookers in this brawl. For better or worse, nobody else had been around when the two Chosen were clashing halberds, or when the soulless monster had rushed to attack Hannah.

  A charred, burnt circle remained on the ground where Marc had once stood. The power of the ruby charm that Adam had used had been enough to burn the stone that Marc had stood on. Now, there was nothing left of the body at all. It was a full cremation.

  The body of a young man with dark black hair was lying on the road. James’s skin was still tinted red from the possession he had experienced. His once emerald colored eyes had lost their vigor and now remained cloudy and dead. His ears remained partially elongated, as did his nails, but these features were not as noticeable to a group that had narrowly avoided death at the hands of Hrime.

  Hellig stared at James’s body for a moment as the people around him looked to him for what to do. Adam was no exception to this. Despite his headache and dizziness having been alleviated once he used the charm, he had no illusions regarding the fact that Hellig was an experienced royal guard.

  “We need to get to the emperor.”

  With that simple sentence, Hellig helped Adam support Hannah as the group hobbled onwards through the vacant street. Despite them being only a short distance from the imperial palace, it was well known that the royal guards within would never, under any circumstances short of a direct order from the emperor, leave outside the grounds of the estate.

  Around them, gas lamps lit up one by one on an automatic, magically induced timer to welcome the hours of night.

  …

  The imperial residence loomed high upon a hill overlooking the lights of Diell City. One side of it was in the form of a gothic castle, with high walls and a gate. The other half was in the fashion of an imperial palace of eastern design, with glazed tiles in a symmetrical layout instead of carved stone. Where they met, a large tower made out of strange glowing, scale-like stone extended, climbing high into the sky. A spiral staircase made out of a glassy substance wound its way along the main tower structure. This was the imperial residence of Emperor Aurelius himself, a Partial Divinity and the demigod ruler of the entire Diell Empire- the largest nation in the Physical World.

  The history of the structure was well known. Each Emperor added a new section to the structure when they were crowned. The original emperor, Diell Aurelius himself, created the main tower out of the stones and gems of the Realm he assumed control over when he became a demigod. The second emperor, Kaloj Aurelius, added on the gothic castle section. Kaloj had intended to expand upon the residence with additional library space, ritual rooms and other occult areas. The current emperor and grandson of Diell Aurelius was Vendos Aurelius. Through his pursuits of various allies across the Physical World and various Realms, he took the Diell Empire from a powerhouse nation into the world hegemon. His tastes became varied, and he took inspiration from other cultures beyond Diell’s own when designing the palace portion of the residence, adding on extra spaces for the servants to have a higher quality of life and allowing for the construction of additional leisure options on the grounds. The result was a mismatch of architectural styles and terminologies. The residence was a headache for every architect in the empire.

  Currently, the group consisting of Adam, Hellig, Hannah, Gusto and Jezebel were making their way to the large steel gate on the castle side of the residence. As they hobbled along towards the gate, they were suddenly stopped by a voice from up on the battlement.

  “Adam Broek and company, His Holiness is expecting you.”

  With that, the castle gate began to lift under its own power. On the other side was a group of three royal guard members. They waited at the ready just on the inside of the estate grounds. As soon as Adam and Hellig got Hannah across, two of the guards immediately moved to take the burden away from Adam and Hellig, almost forcefully thrusting the two of them off to support her instead.

  “Pfft, we had it fine…” Adam muttered under his breath, slightly exasperated with how the guards waited just on the inside of the estate lines. In his eyes, he had no idea why none of them could have gone out to help keep the monsters in check. Seeing as Hellig was out fighting to protect them, why couldn’t they? Hellig gave a quick glance at Adam and shook his head, indicating that now was not the time to start an argument.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  The third guard, who had not moved to support Hannah, continued to stand at attention in front of them. This guard had a red uniform instead of a standard yellow and green uniform of the normal royal guards. He was middle aged, with thin red hair and a pair of medals on his shirt. His dim blue eyes seemed to be unperturbed with the wounded young adults he found himself faced with. He was the captain of the royal guard, Streng Ezel.

  “Adam Broek and company, the emperor expects you. Do not keep Him waiting.”

  Ezel turned to lead the group not into the castle, but rather towards the main tower. They were going directly to the emperor’s throne room!

  Adam followed Ezel’s lead, looking back towards Hannah every few steps. Her eyes were glossy and her footing was unsure.

  She doesn’t look well… If I’m being honest, I’m surprised she’s even awake. Marc hit her really hard. If it wasn’t for that strange creature and Hellig’s healing, I don’t know if she would even be alive. She surely has a severe concussion… Marc..

  Adam’s expression instantly fell as he became melancholic. During the hobble from the street to the castle gate, he hadn’t spent time thinking about what had actually happened. Between the shock of the fight, the need to get to safety and his desire to protect Hannah and the rest of his friends, he hadn’t had the bandwidth to even consider what had happened to Marc. Now, he had to come to terms with the fact that one of his best friends had not only lost his soul, but nearly killed Hannah, attacked him and Gusto, and was put down by his own hands. It left him with a bad taste in his mouth and a sinking embarrassment and dread.

  If I was just…stronger. Maybe I could have stopped her from being hurt. Adam looked back again towards Hannah, whose situation hadn’t changed in the few seconds he had looked ahead. Maybe if I was a Chosen of some Realm, like Uncle Bruenor, then I would have been able to get to Marc and save him…

  Ezel interrupted Adam’s thoughts by stopping abruptly. He hadn’t noticed, but they had made their way to the beginning of the spiraling staircase of glassy light. As they all stepped up on the first stair, which was actually large enough to hold a group much larger than their own, they suddenly found themselves at the top of the tower, seemingly instantly.

  The room was spacious, isolated from the outside by a wall of spiritual energy. Adam had no idea how they managed to traverse the entire staircase instantly like that, nor how they were suddenly inside as opposed to outside, but he wasn’t about to complain about suddenly being somewhere warmer and safer than the cold of the outside world.

  The floor was made out of a dark, obsidian colored stone that was smooth to the touch. The entire room had floor to ceiling windows on all sides tinted with white and purple energy. It swirled around as if it was gaseous air, causing the transparent spiritual walls to change color and shift as if they were partially alive. With a glance, Adam could tell that the barrier was impressive- only divinity could create something so spiritually potent.

  The rest of the room was surprisingly unadorned. A throne made out of sharp black stone sat on the far side of the room, but nothing else was inside. The emperor wasn’t there, nor were there any other guards besides the three that had brought them there. It made Adam confused.

  “Where’s the emperor, I thought he was waiting on us?” Adam was finally able to think straighter after the shock had mostly left his system. All that was left was the shakes from having expended so much adrenaline.

  Ezel’s tone was steely. “He will be here when He sees fit to be.”

  After a few moments of dread slowly building, they felt a shift in the spiritual energy in the room. It was overwhelming, forcing them all on their knees and bowing their heads. Hannah and the guards supporting her were unaffected, though all of the guards, including Ezel, still did show proper respect to the authority that had entered the room.

  A booming and deep voice sounded from the chair that Adam swore was empty half a second ago. Like a thunderclap rolling in from a far off distance, it was a power barely contained by the physical environment.

  “Adam Broek and company. You may raise your heads.”

  …

  Amidst the sound of dripping liquid from the ceiling of a gray stone brick sewer, a pair of figures met. One of them was feminine, with blue eyes as sharp as ice and dark hair that was gently laying down her back. This figure had a black halberd with a faintly glowing blue edge. She had changed out of her earlier robe and now wore a black vest with a light blue undershirt. Her pants were brown and worn.

  The other figure was dressed in a pure white robe that seemed at odds with the dimness of the surroundings. The being had no facial features. That is to say, it had no face at all. Its head was like a mask of brightly white skin, with no wrinkles or creases. No eyes, nose or mouth could be seen. It wore black silk gloves with white pants. It was like looking at an unpainted figurine.

  “Congratulations on your successful operation, Hrime. The Maiden surely appreciates your assistance in this matter.”

  Hrime scoffed. “It wasn’t a success for me. Or did you forget? My goal is to reclaim my birthright, I care nothing for the machinations of a Devil without a goal, nor the vague aspirations of a demigod who thinks himself to be a subject of prophecy.”

  The being before Hrime was unfazed by her retort.

  “Then you should think carefully about the methods you use in the future. You are always free to seek the help of, say, the Abyss, or the Serpent?”

  The figure moved closer to Hrime. It seemed to match her height exactly, with an air to it that seemed like it looked down on her from on high.

  “Though I suppose that isn’t quite an option for a being unable to do so much as even contest a single Cherubim, now, is it?”

  Hrime met the eyeless contact of the being’s incorporeal gaze, though her heart was beating rapidly and her mind felt like it was a pliable clay.

  “Divinities do not scare me.”

  The robed figure vacated the sewer and the Realm it was contained within with the pop of surrounding air instantly filling in vacant space as a small cluster of white feathers fluttered in the air, the being’s deep voice traveled across the wind, seemingly coming from any number of directions around Hrime.

  “They should.”