A week ago in Lavarza City, The Zyrta Citadel

  The three cardinals looked upon the bishop, and he swallowed the saliva in his throat. His mouth felt dry, and the glares from his superiors felt like knives piercing his skin. The glares were probably because he began delivering some messages, for messages were rarely a positive thing in these echelons. They always meant trouble of one sort or another, and the cardinals began hating the bishops like a plague, or at least that's how Bishop Manus began seeing it.

  But that was just one of the ways that the elite worked, he supposed.

  "So, what is the message you have brought us?" the high-pitched voice of one of the cardinals sounded from the luxurious chair placed high above in the main hall of the cathedral.

  Even the chair was adorned with blue gems, and the windows were so colorful that it almost blinded anyone who walked inside. All of them were representations of Taker and Alighter, of course, but it all seemed so gauche to Manus.

  He would eventually change it all, once he finally got his place amongst these people. It shouldn't be too long, hopefully, but for now he would have to pretend to only be a nice servant without any ulterior motives.

  "It's a message of importance from one of our temple kids, Sire. Originally, my link had no importance at all, but I have seen something strange in his messages."

  He let the sentence settle, only for an annoyed click to sound from above.

  "Do you think we have time for your riddles, Bishop? Out with it."

  Manus smiled. He had them now. Had their whole attention. All there was left to do was to make this situation into something that pushes him forward. Pushes him to the top of the food chain. A careful choice of words would be necessary.

  "The temple boy has talked about three new arrivals in Mura Academy."

  "Has your temple boy also told you that the sun has reached the horizon today as well? Of course they have new arrivals. It's the beginning of a new semester after all," one of the cardinals said sarcastically, giggling behind her desk.

  "Yes, but not three mages arriving that use magic without a spell blade. A cardinal sin, according to the Sword Saint, of course," Manus added, and looked at the trio once again.

  They were silent now, the jokes dying on their tongues. Good.

  "One of the trio is an elf, apparently thirteen or fifteen years of age."

  "Elves age differently than we do," one of the cardinals said, "and according to our information they cannot use mana the way that us Lavarzans can. This all seems… improbable."

  "And yet my contact assures me it is true, with multiple witnesses to account for it."

  "The mages in the Academy are probably uninformed of their magic and how the elves function. Maybe they are half Lavarzans then?" One of the cardinals mused, the man with a deeper voice, who sat in the center.

  "Doesn't matter," the woman cardinal reprimanded. "The heretics must be punished, no matter their race. Only one is an elf?"

  "Yes, that is the case," Manus agreed. "Only one elf. What is interesting, however, is that this is a child; another one is a child, and then there is a strange man with long hair and one arm. He calls himself 'Mev,' and my sources also say that he's quite more practiced than these two, not a novice but someone who has been doing magic like this for years."

  Manus already knew that this was something that the bored temple kid probably did to get rid of his duties for a short while. It was normal; they were sometimes in their rebellious phase as they left with their first duties, once they got sent out into the real world. He would fix it up once he got to Mura.

  He expected the three cardinals to scoff and send him there so he could calm his mind, but instead they went deathly silent for such a long while that he began looking around, trying to see into their faces. Two of them stood up, walking towards the one cardinal in the middle, and they congregated around the table, their words carrying over in silent whispers.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  It took them several minutes to stop talking, and finally, once they all stood up and stopped leaning onto the table, the center-most cardinal looked at the guards standing near the entrance and ordered in a voice that left no space for arguments, "Leave us now. We must talk in private."

  The guards saluted immediately, and crisply stepped outside, their armor clinking on the marble floor.

  Manus' thoughts were in disarray. Did he anger the Cardinals somehow? But he wasn't the only one coming here with such messages, such hidden requests.

  "Manus, only the three of us know of this, and you will be the fourth person to know. What we tell you now cannot leave this room. Are we understood?"

  He heard the gravitas in that voice. The subtle feeling of an enchanted item seeping into his mind. This was not a promise he should make lightly, he knew, but he made it anyway. It was one more step towards becoming one of them.

  "Of course, Your Highness."

  "Good. Let us get to it, then. Sword Saint Jonathan left several hidden journals after his death. They describe his actions as he saw them, and one passage in particular describes one of his biggest fears. Do you reckon you know what that is?"

  "No, Your Highness."

  The cardinal nodded, shaking his head and leaning on one of his arms.

  "His biggest fear was that the mage Meriel didn't die. That he survived somehow, and would come kill him when he expected it the least."

  "The mage Meriel? The legend said that he was surely dead, killed by a monster," Manus said, though he always suspected there must have been more at play than a simple monster that would kill a dragon slayer.

  "We have been watching Mura closely, and this is a reason for concern. We have decided on our next move. Manus, you will take ten of our paladin forces and investigate. If you have any reason to believe this is really the Meriel we are speaking of, there will be further steps by us, but the only thing we need you to do is to go inside Mura and find information. Return as swiftly as possible. Are we clear?"

  Manus could barely believe his own ears. Not only did he just obtain some information that nobody else in the church knew, and he would also lead this high-ranked mission. Finally, the Alighter was smiling gently upon him. The fruit of his decades of work would come; this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and he would seize it.

  But he wouldn't only watch. For why only watch when he could exceed their expectations? No, he would do his best to utilize the paladins to their full potential.

  "Yes, Your Highness."

  Present time, Underneath Mura Academy

  John hugged the walls as he followed the two children, not bothering to keep as quiet as before. Not his preferred method, but it was either to delve deeper or possibly lose his quarry in these tunnels. By the Taker, he probably wouldn't even be able to get back by the way he came anymore. There were so many forks and so many side tunnels that he wondered how anyone made any sense of this all whatsoever.

  Finally, they walked behind the door and began talking quietly, so quietly in fact that John had to step really close and press his ear to the wood.

  Finally, though, he began hearing what they were speaking of, and his heart almost stopped. He shouldn't be hearing this conversation. He knew that. Who knew what these people would do to him were they to find out that he was here, but he couldn't quite bring himself not to listen.

  He would be forced to tell the church of all of this, of course, but a part of him wondered whether that would be necessary. Perhaps he could pretend that this was a completely normal school day, and he definitely didn't follow two children into hidden tunnels underneath the Mura Academy. No, no, no.

  He quietly sighed and was just about to push himself off the door when suddenly it shot open, and he fell right onto his face.

  Silence took over the room as he looked up, and he recognized several faces. They were his teachers, not all of them, of course, but he immediately recognized Miss Viera standing next to the two children.

  The situation couldn't go any more wrong.

  "And why are you following us, mister?" the elf kid asked and stepped closer, his ear twitching as he inspected John's face.

  Again, the feeling of unease came with the sight of an elf, as if there was something wrong, something hidden beneath his skin. John couldn't quite understand the same feeling that clung to him since the first time he had seen this kid. How unnerving.

  "He's from the temple," Viera said, shaking her head. "Of course we had a tail. Well then, we will need more people if we are about to go do this seriously. Some people to keep unwanted ears from our conversations."

  She stepped closer as John began standing up and clicked her tongue.

  "Where do you think you are going, young man? I don't believe we are done here, are we? Who have you told about you coming here?"

  "Nobody," John whispered. He didn't really have the time to do so anyway. It was spontaneous, and the temple wouldn't like him snooping around; that was sure, especially not if even half of what they have said here was true.

  "Good, then we will need to make necessary arrangements so you don't tell anyone from now on either," she said.

  There was no cordiality in her voice, no hint of the professionalism she always carried with herself like a weapon in the classes. No, there was something else, not unlike bloodlust.

  Before anyone could proceed to any action, however, the elven kid looked beyond the door from which John just fell and then turned to the people behind him.

  "I don't know if he is telling the truth, but I haven't heard these people before."

  "What do you mean?" the red-haired kid said.

  "We've got company. Armored company. Maybe a few minutes away."