Adam approached the gothic castle gate in front of him. Passing a routine inspection to enter the grounds of the Imperial Residence, he swiftly made his way towards the portion of the residence once made by Kaloj Aurelius, the previous emperor. A mass of royal guards were hurrying to and froe as he traversed the courtyard towards his preferred entrance.

  Always feeling like an outsider whenever he was on the grounds, he attempted to keep his head down and remain anonymous. His choice of entrance- the gothic gate into the courtyard, and then into a herbology room seldom used, was one of the least used series of entrances in the residence. It usually afforded him ample personal space.

  Usually, there would be a selection of royal guards at each gate into the main grounds, as well as strategic locations within them. Today, there were royal guards nearly everywhere he looked. The best of the best that the empire had to offer, decorated in green and yellow, moved boxes, read and signed reports, checked armor and weapons, tended to animals, conjured items, or sparred in whatever vacant space they could find. It was as if every guard was being mobilized at once.

  Ducking to the side of a pair of guards as they were moving a large barrel, Adam accidentally bumped into a form as solid as a concrete wall. Twisting around, he bowed hurriedly.

  “I apologize, I wasn’t looking where I was going, please forgive me!”

  A gruff scoff greeted him in return.

  “It’s fine, though I didn’t expect to see anyone from your task force here. Did Juhend send you?”

  Glancing up, Adam’s gaze was met with a red uniform decorated with a pair of medals. Red hair, vastly different from the usual black or blonde hair present in the empire, sat atop a middle aged countenance. It was Streng Ezel, the captain of the royal guard.

  “No, sir. I’m sorry to have bothered you, I’ll get going.”

  Adam turned on his heel to leave, but was stopped by an unseen force. It was as if an invisible wall had manifested itself before him.

  “If he didn’t send you, then you happen to be free at the moment?”

  Adam’s eyes twitched.

  Not exactly, I’m kind of looking for Him right now, sir…

  “What do you need help with, sir?”

  The gruff voice of Streng Ezel resounded through the air as the pressure of the invisible wall dissipated.

  “Keep an eye on Hellig. Don’t let him do anything stupid while we’re gone. Think of it as babysitting. Except you’re watching him this time around. Got it?”

  Adam turned around, but Ezel was already walking away.

  Why do I feel like that wasn’t a coincidence to stumble into him just now? And why in the world would he be concerned about Hellig?

  Shaking his head, Adam slipped through a doorway into the gothic portion of the residence and slowly made his way into an unused ritual room.

  I’ll have to bring it up to Mr. Sureb when I see Him, maybe He knows what’s wrong.

  …

  The Emperor, Vendos Aurelius, was adorned with golden armor, shining resplendent in his surroundings. Seated on his throne of strange gemstone, the demigod was watching intently as a pair of royal guards double checked his preferred weapon. A staff made out of a cherry red wood and decorated with golden dragon scales. It was a powerful magical item, and it suited the ruler well.

  To his right side was Bruenor Flos, the Vice Admiral of the Accepted Pantheon Missionary Fleet. Though he was currently without a fleet to command in the open ocean, it allowed him to take part in this operation. Bruenor wore his standard blue garb, though notably did have a sword and pistol both slung at his hip. Bruenor was in the process of meditation with his surroundings, attempting to fortify his spiritual energy before departure.

  To his left was Streng Ezel. The second strongest mortal being in the Empire after Bruenor, he wore his standard red uniform. He had furnished himself with a large pole made out of an electric blue metal that faintly hummed. Ezel was skimming yet another report delivered to him by a royal guard acting as a courier.

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  In front of him was Juhend Sureb, the chief exorcist and secret demigod. Though they shared the same general tier of power, nobody else in the room was aware of Juhend’s status. Thus, the demigod referred to the emperor with proper formalities.

  Juhend was currently in a trance. His head flitted from side to side faster than a regular human’s eye could track, and his eyes were filled with spiraling, star-like constellations. It made the heads of the Chosen nearby hurt whenever they looked at the sight. Suddenly, the seer snapped out of the trance.

  “It’s time. We need to intercept, now.”

  The timing was a rather logical sequence of events.

  …

  In the country of Martes, mere miles from the capital city, a demigod impatiently tapped his foot against the ground. A mass of bodies as tall as a building surrounded him, and even the sky itself seemed dreary and half dead. Clad in a dull white cloak, nearly yellowish from discoloration, and with his eyes shown shut, the demigod seemed torn. Void of the usual smiling caricature in his expression, the being shook his head. Unable to contact the Ever-Decaying Lord, some form of powerful disruptive interference was at play.

  Though he desired for the destruction of Martes, Viernes, and the Physical World in general, he wasn’t stupid, nor shortsighted. He had dealt significant damage, and with his abilities, was entirely capable of finishing the job at a later point. He didn’t need to be here at the moment for his undead to continue most of the work for him.

  Sighing, the smiling caricature returned to his face, pulling his grin back behind his ears. Chuckling to himself, the demigod Shifted almost instantly without needing materials or a ritual. Though this process was intensive on one’s spiritual energy, and technically was capable of being tampered with by a divinity with extreme powers over fate and destiny, it was much faster and more efficient for a divine being to Shift in such a way, especially when they believed their destination was secure.

  It was a logical sequence of events.

  …

  As Adam finished his Shift into Juhend’s Realm, he was greeted with a familiar sense of dizziness, almost oily in sensation. Glancing around and taking a few deep breaths to stabilize his heart rate, he made his way into the bastion, where Hellig was grinning and smiling in front of Gusto, who sat himself at the leather couch.

  “Adam! Just in time!”

  Hellig, uncharacteristically loud, turned towards Adam with a bright smile on his face.

  “Are you coming with us?”

  “Uh, going with you where, exactly?”

  Hellig’s smile beamed.

  “To the Realm of my ancestor, the true founder of the Empire! Huzza! Gusto has already agreed, I can’t believe I was so shortsighted in the past to think that nothing was there.”

  Adam glanced at Gusto, who slowly shook his head.

  “He’s set on going, may as well go with him.”

  “Uh, right… Hellig-”

  Hellig interrupted Adam with a serious tone.

  “Look. After what happened with my sister, I owe it to myself, and to her, to dig into this. I talked to Juhend, and he wouldn’t give me straight answers. So, when he was out this morning, I snuck into his personal study and broke into his dossiers on all of us. Guess what I found?”

  He slammed down a pile of papers onto the table.

  “Hellig Diell. Royal Guard. Holds one half of the Diell Instrument, the other half belonging to Hrime Diell. Loyal, unquestioning of imperial authority.”

  He pointed towards larger, bolded text at the bottom of the page.

  “Keep away from the Diell Ancestral Realm.”

  He slammed more papers down on the table.

  “Gusto Laut. Chosen of the Church of the Rainbow Pantheon. Shows strong growth, but uncharacteristically volatile Realm. Possible misharmonization risk.”

  He slammed more papers down.

  “Adam Broek. Unknown harmonization status. No sign of harmonization with any known Realm. Maximum surveillance priority.”

  Hellig stood up rigidly.

  “We aren’t a damn task force. We’re fucking prisoners, and he’s our jailor.”

  Hellig materialized his shimmering golden armor.

  “So, I’m going to do something they don’t expect. I’m going to disobey Juhend’s orders, and I’m going to go to the Realm of my ancestor. I’m bringing my halberd, and the file is in here on how to get there, too.”

  He slammed another pile of papers on the table.

  “A glass marble containing the light of the sun of the Physical World as First Ingredient, and a vial of the blood of the true lineage of the Empire as the Second Ingredient. Well, I happen to have plenty of both, seeing as it's my fucking blood.”

  He produced a series of blood vials and small glass marbles, radiating with warmth.

  “So, are you in, or out?”

  Adam’s head spun, bombarded with such information, he wasn’t able to think straight.

  “I’m fucking in.”

  It was a logical sequence of events, from start to finish.