Fairy Opera Chapter 34: Church

 

Church

A man lay dead on the ground. He was one of the members of the Rebellion’s council, a former noble named Jerimiah. It looked to have been about an hour since he was killed.

It was evening, and the sun touched the horizon, casting orange shadows over the houses above. A group of the city’s constables surrounded the body.

Andrew pushed his way through the crowd and knelt down beside Jerimiah’s body. He sighed, and then turned to me. “When you were attacked by assassins, I made sure that all of us walked around with at least one bodyguard.”

One of the constables motioned to Andrew. “We found his guard’s body in the nearby alleyway. It looks like he’d been tortured before being killed.”

Andrew stood up. “We have to stop this. We need to figure out who is sending these assassins after us and put a stop to it.”

“If it’s the Empire, I don’t think we’ll be able to.” I watched as the constables put a blanket over Jerimiah’s body. “Their reach is too far.”

“We …” Andrew pulled me into an alleyway, then looked both ways. “We have the Syndicate on our side. Put your connections to use and ask them to help us out.”

I nodded. “Okay. I’ll call a meeting with the Syndicate bosses.”

Andrew looked over his shoulder. “I’m coming too. I have a few things I want to talk about with them.”

Two hours later, in the underground Syndicate meeting room I had been in before, Andrew and I faced Lightning and Clack across a table piled high with delicacies. Clack took a piece of bird and shoved the meat into his mouth, chewing while smacking his lips.

Lightning leaned forward. “I heard that a member of the Rebellion council was assassinated. Is that what you’re here to talk to us about?”

“Yes. It is.” Andrew folded his hands. “We need to chase down whoever is attacking our members.”

Lightning leaned back. “We can help. But we’re not doing it for free.”

“What do you want?” Andrew was gritting his teeth. He clearly did not care for the two Syndicate bosses in front of us.

Lightning shrugged. “Just a few rights. Agree to remove tariffs on some of the good we move, and we’ll find those assassins for you.”

Andrew sighed. “Okay.”

The whole building started shaking. Lighting and Clack both hit the floor, leaping off their chairs. I felt the distinctive feel of a spell being activated. A portal opened on the ground. Five ninjas rose from the portal, fully equipped, wielding knives. I knew the moment I saw them that there was no fighting them and winning. I stood up and held up my hands.

Clack got up and tried to run. One of the ninjas threw a shuriken at his back. The blades lodged in his back and he toppled to the ground.

One of the ninjas pointed to me. “You are the one our master wants.”

I stepped forward. “Who are you working for?”

“We are not obligated to tell you. Come with us or this entire island will be cleansed.” The speaking ninja motioned with his hand.

Ruby, still in gem form in my shirt, whispered to me. “You should go with him.”

I lowered my chin. “I’ll go with you.”

I stepped towards the ninjas and a portal opened beneath me. I lowered into it, as if the bottom was an elevator. The ninjas lowered along with me.

I turned to them. “If you had this technology the whole time, why didn’t you use it?”

The middle ninja scoffed and did not respond. The portal closed above me and I stood in the middle of a dark room.

The lights flicked on with a thump. I stood in front of a single table, with two chairs. One of the chairs, facing me, was occupied by an Imperial inquisitor. He took a book of documents out from beneath the table and placed it on the surface. Then he beckoned me to sit.

I sat. The inquisitor shuffled the documents.

“My name is Rist.” The inquisitor slid the documents over to me. “I am part of the disestablishment faction within the church of the God Emperor. I have a quest for you, if you are willing to accept it.”

“Where am I? What is this? Why did you kidnap me with a bunch of scary-looking ninjas?”

Rist tapped a pen on the table. “You can ask as many questions as you want. That does not, however, guarantee I’ll answer them. Well, maybe we should start from the beginning. You see, we’ve been watching your little Rebellion for some time now. And for a while, we thought your threat to the Empire to be too trivial for us to concern ourselves.” Rist put the pen down. “But you have one thing that may prove us wrong on that front.” He pointed straight at the fairy gem in my pocket. “Your fairy.”

Ruby transformed and flew out of my pocket. “What about me?” She hovered above the table, her hands on her hips.

“You do not know your own importance?” Rist tilted his head.

“I do not.”

“It is said that every fairy in existence has access to the Panharmonicon. Is that correct?”

“Uh, what’s that?”

“The Panharmonicon. The device that our God Emperor sits beneath, the device that gives him his divinity.”

Ruby landed on my shoulder. “I mean, if I did, why would I tell you?”

“Would you tell me to protect your master?”

At that moment the ninjas who had kidnapped me appeared out of nowhere. Rist held his hands up.

Ruby sighed. “I’ll talk. Yeah, I have access to something like that. But I’ve never used it before and I don’t even know what it’s for.”

Rist picked his pen back up and started tapping the table with it. “Very good. We need you, Ruby, and her master, Rock, to speak with the God Emperor himself.”

I was shocked. Even though I no longer believed in his absolute divinity, I knew that meeting him in person was going to be a big deal.

Rist pointed his pen at me. “You, and you alone, as a technmage, have the understanding of the magical language known as Scode to converse with the God Emperor. With your fairy’s help, we can speak directly to him instead of going through his mouthpiece.”

“Who I assume is not on your side.” I sighed. “Okay. I’ll do it as long as you promise to help the Rebellion.”

“It is a deal.” Rist stood up. “We shall prepare you for your meeting with the Emperor. Be warned, the purification rituals are complex and mandatory.”

We walked into another room, which was much larger than the previous one. Gothic pillars stretched out along the walls, rising into fenestrated arches. Stained-glass windows let in sunlight—which was strange, because I had been kidnapped at sunset. Statues depicting important church figures and martyrs looked at me from alcoves. A gigantic shrine stood at the end of the temple, which was comprised of a golden table, clothed in fine silk, bordered by golden candelabras. The floor was comprised of a mosaic depicting the birth of the God Emperor. The ceiling was covered by a fresco of the first brother touching the hand of the God Emperor. Candles were lit along the edges of the wall, letting off a sallow light. The place smelled of incense.

We approached the altar. Two priests came from side doors holding incense burners, which they swung from side to side as they moved towards the altar.

Rist stopped at the altar. He held up his hand and began chanting in Scode.

“Oh God of mankind, the God Emperor, send your graces to me and prevent my ineptitude. For you are the unicorn one, and you shall be forever embankment-ed.”

I blinked a few times, wondering why Rist had used such strange language, especially since this ritual looked like it was important. Then I realized that Rist’s knowledge of Scode was limited. I chuckled to myself, even though it wasn’t really the place for it.

“Why do you laugh, technomage?”

“The word isn’t Relicalrus (Unicorn). It’s Relialbun (Holy.)” I did my best to smile.

“Did I make any other mistakes?” Rist appeared genuinely concerned.

“Yeah, it’s not “embankment” (Cuppot) but “encapsulated” (Curpon).”

Rist sighed. “Then my training has been incomplete.” He put his palm to his face. “To think that, after studying the liturgy for as long as I have, that I have been making such fundamental mistakes as this.” He sighed again. “But in any case, we must proceed with the ritual. One may not enter the chamber of the God Emperor without being purified.” Rist turned back to the altar and continued speaking in Scode. He made a few more obvious mistakes, but in general I understood what he was trying to say. He basically just prayed to the God Emperor for various things I’d need.

Rist stopped chanting. He looked down at me. “Bring forth the vessel of containment.”

Four monks wearing white robes came through a side door, with a large tub on their shoulders. It was filled with red water, about the concentration of wine. In fact, it was wine.

The bath was placed right in front of the altar. The monks bowed, took a step back, and knelt.

Rist pointed to the bath. “Step in, my child. I shall have you recite the predigation.”

I stepped into the bath. The wine felt strange and cold against my skin. Rist came up to me. He pulled out a scroll.

It was a long spell. Apparently the priests of the God Emperor did not know how to use libraries properly. The spell barely worked and was full of inefficiencies. But, it worked, and it caused the wine tot turn clear. The “essence” of the wine was “sacrificed.” In other words, I was used as a conduit through which the nutrition and alcohol of the wine was transferred to the aether. It was a pointless spell, but it did make everything around me very shiny, so I could see why they had gone to so much trouble to do it.

I was beginning to understand why I was such a special case. The whole firmament of the church of the God Emperor was based on improper knowledge of magic and Scode. I wondered what kind of misconception surrounded the God Emperor himself as well.

The ceremony ended, and the bath was taken away, now full of clean, pure water. Rist waved an incense burner over my head a few more times, then presented me with a new set of clothes. The clothing had a crude enchantment embedded in it that made it shimmer with each motion I made. I had to admit, it was pretty. Then Rist prayed over me one more time, in Scode, and we walked to the back of the altar. The stone slab behind the altar table slid aside, revealing a long tunnel. We stepped into the tunnel. Rist pulled out a scroll and cast a spell that lit all the torches along the passage’s walls.

“We are underneath the holy city right now.” Rist began walking. “We will come up in the middle of the throne room. I must warn you, that looking upon the God Emperor himself will cause immense psychological pain. I suggest that you avert your gaze as much as possible to preserve your sanity.”

“I understand.” At that moment I decided that, no matter what, I’d look straight into the God Emperor’s eyes. That would show these people what they really believed in.

We came to a staircase that went up and up and up. Then we arrived at a large wooden door with intricate carvings. The doors opened and we stepped through.

 

35

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