Vice Admiral Bruenor Flos was 2 meters tall, with a solid build and blonde hair. His frame was sturdy, and his bearing matched his high position. Steel eyes pierced out of him, and he was wearing a steel blue navy suit with numerous medals decorating him. He was one of the guests of honor at the parade tonight and his appearance matched this great honor. Behind him were two guards dressed in the royal colors- green and yellow vests and pants that even an inexperienced Passenger like Adam could sense were vaguely imbued with spiritual energy. One of them had dark black hair and emerald eyes and was about 1.8 meters tall. This guard had a shortsword at his side and a revolver clearly visible in a holster. The other guard was taller, at 1.85 meters, with bright blonde hair and a golden halberd on his back that was clearly a magical item. Both of them were a few feet behind the Vice Admiral so as to give enough room for him to discuss private matters- a common custom for servants and even guards in the Empire in the current era.

  “It’s wonderful to see you all well, how did your morning go, Gusto?” The Vice Admiral asked with a knowing smile as the group bowed and curtsied to show respect to the member of high society.

  Gusto’s bow was especially low and long, with a smile impossible to conceal, he consciously controlled the volume of his voice. “I must express my deepest possible gratitude Lord Flos, thanks to your insightful tutelage over the past few months, I was able to find a Realm that satisfied my soul, and have begun to properly harmonize with it under the direction of the Church of the Rainbow Pantheon. I have become a Chosen.” With this last line he looked up, his smile lighting up the area like the sun. Bruenor’s smile was just as bright as he gave a chuckle.

  “You’re technically at the same level of harmonization as I am now Gusto, once you get a better feel for how your Realm operates and the fundamentals it is constructed on, I have no doubt that you will move quickly up the ranks of the Rainbow Pantheon's believers. When you are ready for it, I have an old friend that happens to be the Archbishop of the Rainbow Pantheon in the nation of Viernes, it’s a small country to the south.

  “Speaking of, there is an excellent restaurant with authentic Viernes cuisine not far from the square, I’ve preemptively booked a reservation for us all.” Bruenor glanced at Jezebel’s delicate balancing of the weight of various bags and boxes. “So long as my niece has finished her shopping spree of course. Dinner will be on me, as per usual. James, please help Jezebel move the impulse purchases of my niece to her estate, Hellig will accompany us to the restaurant alone until you two return.”

  The group accepted in varying degrees of gratitude, none more so than Jezebel, who was carrying her body weight in various items. James and Jezebel efficiently began to distribute the load of the heaviest items to the elite guard, leaving Jezebel with a chance to recuperate while carrying a lighter load. As the pair left, Hellig, the blonde guard, led the group alongside Bruenor, who would occasionally tell Gusto, Adam or Hellig not to walk so far behind him, as he had little care for the etiquette customs of an “Empire of pompous morons with no regard for human interaction.”

  …

  The Oryza Alba was a fine dining establishment a couple of streets from the Pride Square, with blue stained wood shingles along its exterior and yellow and green stained glass for windows. Inside, an entire wall was taken up by a mural of a rainbow shining down upon pious believers, with the image of the smiling caricature of the Friendly Moon in the back alongside a bright sun whose rays emanated towards the audience.

  “Viernes is rather south of the Empire, and their beliefs are slightly different. Whereas we put our faith in the Many Winged Angel or the Mind Most High, Viernes has faith in the Rainbow Pantheon and Friendly Moon. Of course, every nation believes in the Accepted Pantheon as a whole, so there’s little issue with Gusto here having his faith represented.” Bruenor showcased his knowledge of various cultures to the group as he led them inside. Though it wasn't dark enough for the newly installed gas streetlamps to be turned on this early in the evening, the interior of the restaurant was filled with the light from a dozen chandeliers fashioned out of stained glass. Adam suspected that they were each low quality magic items in order to allow such curving shapes and complexities.

  The restaurant was void of other patrons, seemingly having been reserved for Bruenor’s personal use for the evening. While it wasn’t unheard of for members of high society to reserve an entire establishment, to do so at a high end restaurant mere streets away from the Pride Square during Diell Day spoke volumes of Vice Admiral Bruenor’s influence and pockets. The various staff members inside each greeted the group respectfully as Hellig, Bruenor’s blonde bodyguard, stood by the door.

  Bruenor allowed the waiters to take note of drink orders- water for both Adam and himself, a glass of orange juice for Gusto, and a vanilla induced milk malt for Hannah, before broaching what was actually on his mind.

  “Have any of you seen your friend Marc yet today?” His expression and tone were nonchalant as he gazed down at the menu, but each of the members at the table knew the Vice Admiral well enough to know he would only ask this out of genuine concern. Each replied in varying degrees of rejection.

  “I see. I had reserved space for him at a later reception as well, you see. I will have to have James go out searching more thoroughly later.” Bruenor glanced upwards towards Hellig in the front of the restaurant. “Hellig, you may utilize some of your magic to notify the proper officials that my earlier theory was likely correct. Once James has returned, we shall act according to their instruction.” Bruenor said this as if such a statement had no glaring issues with it, but each member seated at the table was suddenly worried about what could be going on with Marc to require a man like Bruenor to notify and defer to someone before acting.

  Hellig gave a slight bow and stepped outside for a brief period of time. Adam, Hannah and Gusto, being Passengers, vaguely sensed some form of magic emanating from the guard before Hellig swiftly set foot back into the restaurant.

  Bruenor proceeded on without any lapse. “Adam, Hannah, the manner which you have asked me about has been conveyed to the relevant authorities. My recent trip was in regards to this.” He cleared his throat, a hint of embarrassment in his new tone. “I was reprimanded in fact, but my service record has been sufficiently exemplary for this to be only a minor hiccup. The Emperor chose to reprimand me by having me take part in the parade this evening. Honestly, he does know how to joke!”

  Adam and Hannah were both shocked and elated- while Bruenor in theory occupied a high enough post to give official consent for the licensing of a new Passenger, he had a conflict of interest with them due to familial connections with Hannah and her past relationship with Adam. Therefore, the pair had to use him as an intermediary with even higher ranked officials- by the sound of it, the Emperor!

  “Thank you, Uncle.” They both said the same line without delay. Hannah dipped her head at the same time as Adam, to the point where both were almost entirely synchronized. Bruenor laughed heartily at this.

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  “Now then, I think I’ll be light on my stomach in preparation for the three of us meeting in front of the Emperor later for his…cough…tacit approval of certain matters.” He called a waiter over with his hand.

  “I’ll have the sopa de galets entree, a sirloin with mushrooms, medium rare please” He made sure to place emphasis on this trait of his steak by looking the waiter in the eyes, “as well as an order of tacos as an entree, an order of patatas bravas as an entree, and have each entree come with the standard rice portion doubled, please.” The waiter hurriedly jotted down the order and had just raised his head before Bruenor spoke once again.

  “Now then, what will you kids be having?”

  To the wait staff, this was utterly shocking, as the Vice Admiral fully prepared to eat a meal of such size by himself! To the rest of the group, including Hellig in the back, this was uncharacteristically small as far as actual meals went for him to the point where Adam guessed that the Vice Admiral was preparing to eat up half the food at the Emperor’s reception later.

  …

  In a dark and damp cellar underneath one of the buildings near the Pride Square, a group of figures huddled together, each wearing a robe made out of a pale leather skin of unknown origin with a hood to cover their face. There were 8 of them in total, including 2 children that seemed to be under the age of 10. They were all chanting the same line over and over again.

  “Whispering Maiden of Seduction and Envy, bless your devoted with a resplendent crop this night…Whispering Maiden of Seduction and Envy, bless your devoted with a resplendent crop this night…Whispering Maiden of Seduction and Envy, bless your devoted with a resplendent crop this night…”

  In front of them were a series of 5 stone altar tables and human heads lining the walls. Each was dried out and shrunken, this ritual had been planned for months. On each of the altars were tied living captives. One of them was a young man with white hair and deep hazel eyes. His torso was adorned with a solid leather shirt with an embroidered M on the front. His linen pants were stained with blood. Gagged and bound, this young man had unmistakable fear and terror in his eyes.

  As the leader of the congregation continued to chant, she took the shrunken heads down from the wall one by one, passing them to each of the congregation members in turn. Each member lightly kissed each head, placing a pile of them at the base of each altar. Marc was on the last table to the right end of the cellar. He watched in horror as an elderly lady was sacrificed by the cult’s leader, her blood pouring down as if directed by some power. Mixing with the shrunken heads down below, they began to mesh and form together, coagulating into a horrific monster with a hunched back and arms that dangled down to the floor. 30cm long claws grew from its elongated hands. The corpse of the lady was not spared, as before the blood was even drained, the cult leader fed her to the monster, which suddenly grew thin gray hair that reached down to the floor. Marc was paralyzed with fear as the cult leader moved on towards the next table.

  …

  After the group finished their meal and began to engage in more serious conversation, Adam resolved himself to question Bruenor regarding the experience he had when he Shifted improperly that morning. By this point, James and Jezebel had returned to their posts, though no clear sign of any directions from the government were given to Hellig yet.

  Taking a breath, and resolving to not beat around the bush, Adam looked Bruenor in the eye. “Uncle Bruenor, I have a question regarding certain matters. I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time in private before the parade later?”

  Bruenor smiled briefly, but upon glancing more closely at Adam, his expression turned more serious. “James, make sure the kids inside are safe until I return. Hellig, come with us please.” The two guards obediently obliged, though Hannah watched with a sharp look as Adam left the building. After guiding him off to the side of the building, Bruenor waved his hand, and all the sounds from nearby stopped- even the wind was still.

  “Adam my boy, I wish you had mentioned sooner. I don’t always keep all of my abilities active, especially when Hellig and James are around, so I didn’t sense your predicament.”

  Adam glanced down, embarrassed at his unprofessionalism in not telling his mentor sooner. “Uncle Bruenor, when I Shifted earlier today, I found myself in deep, dark waters. There were no lights around me or any life, and even when I flew upwards and conjured light as best I could, I didn’t find anything at all.

  “When I traced my Anchor back to the Physical World, I felt an overwhelming presence approaching me, it felt like I was being stabbed in the brain… Did I encounter some Devil?”

  Bruenor sighed and took a long look at Adam. “No, at your level, even a brief encounter like that would have left enough residual spiritual taint to allow me to sense it instantly. Your spiritual frequency is actually more in tune with the Physical World than I’ve ever seen before, I can hardly sense any variations to you unless I knew how to look for them.”

  Bruenor glanced over at Hellig, who stood by silently. “Hellig, I need you to perform a purification spell on Adam here please. Tomorrow, we will take you to the Church and have one of the bishops perform a full cleansing right on behalf of the Many Winged Angel. By then you’ll be an official Passenger and there won’t be any issues in me getting you rushed in.”

  “Sir.” Hellig moved to stand a meter in front of Adam and took a deep breath. He turned his head upwards as if looking at the sun, outstretching both his arms to pray to the sun, the Mind Most High. Radiant light began to fill the spiritually enclosed space, bringing with it the smell of pumpkin and maple sap and a warm tingling feeling. Adam felt hazy for a brief while, but recovered as soon as the light dissipated.

  “Sir, the ritual has been completed. I recommend additional treatment as soon as possible.” Hellig went back up, and then took a quizzical look at the sky. “Sir, we weren’t supposed to get any snow tonight.”

  Bruenor and Adam both looked to the sky to see thin white snowflakes falling from brewing storm clouds. The stars and moon were covered by the newfound thick cloud cover. Bruenor dispelled his zone of non-interference and swiftly led Hellig and Adam inside, shooing the staff members away as he did so.

  “Kids, I’m afraid there are certain pressing matters that will require my attention. Hellig, assume communication is compromised given the lack of official response. Take the kids to the Emperor, if they aren’t safe near a demigod, they aren’t safe anywhere.”

  With these words, even Hellig and James couldn’t pretend to be unfazed, Hannah opened her mouth as if to say something, but was swiftly interrupted by Bruenor as he took out a small charm. It looked to be made out of pure ruby in the shape of a spear. “Hannah, this is an item I received from my friend in Viernes, it allows you to cast a divine power of the Rainbow Pantheon. Upon its use, you will be incapable of combat for a moderate amount of time. Use it if you need to, your lives are more important than some charm.”

  Bruenor motioned to Hellig to get the group moving, who were in varying states of shock at such a rapid change in mood. Hannah did accept the charm, but was meek as she did so, neglecting to even speak words of thanks.

  When the group left alongside Hellig, Bruenor turned around to his remaining guard. “James, let us save someone’s son.”

  James, with his dark black hair, shortsword and revolver, bowed honestly. “Yes, sir.”