Back at the Precinct of Crimes Against the Public, Aeriliya was waiting for her Corporal to bring in someone who may be able to shed some light. She had been back into the hidden library once more after her initial visit and there was no other information to be gleaned from the files pertaining to the Unknown Hero’s training. Hearing footsteps approaching, she saw her Corporal, Max Regina. Letting out a sigh, “Maxy, please tell me you have some good news for me. I could really use some.”

  “No need to look so down, Sergeant, you know I always finish whatever you ask from me”, Max answered with a confident smile, “I have the guy in the office room, just waiting for you.”

  Aeriliya beamed, “There’s a reason I keep you around”, she said as she shuffled the small stack of papers, a pen and an inkwell to carry with her. The two walked with Aeriliya trying to control her excited pace towards the interview room. The pair came to the outside of the room with glass windows, showing an older priest wearing light blue robes, sitting patiently but looking somewhat annoyed at being accosted.

  “What did you even want with a guy from the Pantheon, Sergeant”, Regina asked, “Those guys typically don’t react well when we question them.”

  Aeriliya patted her subordinate on the side of the arm, “Same thing as always, Maxy. We just need to find out a few things in the pursuit of the truth”, she said as she looked inside.

  Opening the door, she greeted the priest, one Luca Amata who looked off put but not outright angry at being questioned, “I’ve no issue against being an upstanding citizen, but I must insist that nothing here would cause me to go against any of my oaths.”

  Aeriliya waved her hand, “I can assure you Priest Amata, I’m not here to ask you about anything that would call your integrity into question. Please, sit”

  The two took seats at opposite sides of the table and the Priest asked, “I’m not sure how I can be of any help. I’m just a Scribe. I hardly see anything outside the pages of a book.”

  Aeriliya took out her papers, and dipped her pen in the inkwell, “Priest Amata-”

  “You may just call me Luca”, the Priest offered quickly, “Priest Amata is a bit of a mouthful, wouldn’t you agree?”

  Aeriliya nodded, “Alright, Luca. You’ve been a Scribe for how long?”

  “It’s been over forty years. I’ve devoted my life to the exploration and recording of all sorts of knowledge, new and old.”

  “Before you moved to Rathboria, you worked in the holy city, Acolynia”, which Marcus affirmed, “And, I understand that you were actually one of the personal Scribes to the Head Priest of the Epiphinian temple, am I right?”

  Marcus seemed confused as to why his credentials were being questioned so thoroughly, before the elven woman started leaning into her questioning, “I understand that you retired from the temple after the last Demon War?”

  For the first time in the interview, Luca’s face looked pinched, “Yes, there were … many things to be chronicled that were difficult. Having to sit with the knowledge of the atrocities of that war”, he paused to shake his head, “I didn’t see the war firsthand, but after hearing so many accounts, I felt like I lived through it in a thousand lifetimes.”

  Aeriliya straightened up, “Luca, you were present when the heroes were summoned. You helped train the hero of the Knowledge god, didn’t you?

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  The priest’s face still looked worn, but a small smile passed over his face, “Yes. Ms. Angela Kingsley. She was such a bright, young woman. Of course, she would have to be if she were going to receive the power of knowledge.”

  Now came the complicated part, “It’s come to my attention that there may have been more than one hero that was trained in the Temple at that time.”

  It was always a nuisance to watch a priest’s body language since those flowing robes hid so much of their form. The face and the hands, that was what she always kept a careful watch on. It was subtle but the priest’s folded hands tightened every so slightly, “I’m not sure what you mean. I just mentioned Ms. Kingsley.”

  “Yes, but I wasn’t referring to her. There was also a man that was trained, wasn’t there?”

  Like any of the other high ranked members of the Pantheonites, Luca gave nothing away. Keeping his face neutral yet still harmless and inviting. But Aeriliya knew that no matter what sect he belonged to, this priest could dodge the question all he wanted, but what he couldn’t do was lie, “I’ve recently learned that there was someone else who was trained as a hero around the same time. You called him the Unknown Hero.”

  Luca’s face broke into a small, uneasy smile, “I believe with a name like that, it provides all you need to know about his identity. If he’s Unknown then, that is all there is to it.”

  Aeriliya knew it was probably wrong of her to feel this way, but there were few things that gave her such a feeling of satisfaction as when someone verbally cornered themselves, “Yes, a title like that must leave so much to imagine about him. Then it would help if I had a name, am I correct ?”, she smiled as the man’s face stayed the same but even without activating her Eyes of Discernment, she could tell how uneasy he felt, “Edwin Thatch. Does that name sound familiar?”

  Priest Amata wet his lips, “Sergeant, I-”

  “As you admitted were the Head Scribe for the Epiphinian Temple”, she interrupted, giving him no room to dodge her question, “And as it shows in the records, you were present for any number of emergency gatherings. Now these meetings have no official title, and the actual minutes of those meetings are sealed.”

  “Sergeant Carnelis, as you must know, the training of the heroes is a closely guarded secret”, Luca tried to explain, “There are certain generationally held secrets of the Pantheon’s teachings reserved purely for the heroes that cannot be divulged. Surely you must realize this.”

  “That much is true”, Aeriliya admitted, “But I had my people check through those records as well. And while they couldn’t access the records themselves, they were all clearly identified by being marked as meetings which related to the hero’s training and war council. The ones I’m referring to not only had no access, but had no official title.”

  She knew that all she needed was a minor push, “I would find it strange that someone as highly ranked as yourself wouldn’t be present for such a thing, especially given your speciality.”

  The priest sighed deeply, “Sergeant Carnelis, you must realize that even if what you are saying is correct, I would be unable to divulge such things.”

  Swirling her finger in a circle around the room, “These walls are enchanted in such a way that nothing inside can be heard outside. Nobody can read your lips, nothing”, she could tell that the man was warring with himself, “Luca, you must have heard about what happened at the Nocturne Forest, yes?”

  He hung his head and nodded, “Then you must know that the time for secrecy has ended. This is a real threat. There’s no shame or condemning you for merely helping us apprehend a terrorist.”

  Luca once more wet his lips, “We weren’t sure what to make of him. The young man was intelligent, but that was more likely due to his education before he arrived in this world. By the time he left our temple, young Mr. Thatch had already been through half a dozen other temples, and the only ones left were domains that were considered especially sacred.”

  “I understand that there was a divide surrounding him?”

  Luca snorted when he heard that, “A divide is putting it mildly. Some days it seemed almost like a civil war would break out between certain parties. There were some who wanted to see what would come of training him, there were others that thought a thirteenth hero was surely a bad omen and wanted him dead. Most were fearful, but they weren’t sure what side to take.”

  Suddenly an idea came to Aerliya, “Did anyone try to take matters into their own hands?”

  Luca folded his hands, “There was one incident.”