Adam opened the solid oak wood door to find a familiar sight. A young woman with piercing emerald eyes and a red rose in blonde hair cascading down her back. She was 1.65 meters tall, with a thin frame accentuated by a traditional yellow Diell dress. It was silky, but not in a constrictive way, and it was light and airy enough to move comfortably in. A common choice for many of the upper class women in the Empire, particularly those with knowledge of Passengers or the experience to match that knowledge.

  Hannah took one glance at Adam and scoffed.

  “You Shifted again, didn’t you?” Her piercing emerald eyes briefly moved past Adam as she analyzed the fish scale still on the altar, pretending to ignore his obviously drenched appearance. Adam didn’t respond, instead feeling a rush of blood to his face as he glanced down. Hannah sighed and twirled her hair with her right hand.

  “Look Adam, I know things are…difficult right now between us, and I know I can’t stop you from Shifting…” She paused, as if deciding what to say. Her lips parted briefly, but Adam interrupted her.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, or well, I did, but I… I’m sorry. I’ve been out of it most of the day.” Adam sighed, knowing that talking more would only make it worse for him.

  Hannah looked at him for a solid two seconds before glancing down the hallway.

  “You’re lucky I came by early. My uncle is back in town today, I plan on meeting up with him during the festival. By the looks of it, you should too. I’ll have Jezebel lay out your suit. How’s Gusto doing?”

  Adam glanced down to the floor again. “Ah, uh, haven’t seen him this morning, I…Shifted instead of going to meet up with him.”

  Hannah gave a quick look of disapproval, but she quickly decided it wasn’t a fight worth having.

  “I’ll meet you downstairs in a few minutes.” Hannah took a deep breath and concentrated, extending out her palm. Adam, at first confused as to what she was doing, took a step back. However, after remembering the level of concentration he needed to conjure even an Orb of Light, he quickly realized Hannah was about to perform magic. He glanced down both sides of the thin hallway and exhaled, satisfied that there wasn’t anyone to see them.

  It wasn’t that magic or Passengers were unknown to the world, the various churches all made note of Realms and Passengers, and everyone knew that Emperor Aurelius was a Demigod of his own Realm, but neither Hannah nor Adam were licensed Passengers. They didn’t work for any of the churches of the Accepted Pantheon, nor did they have personal permission from the Emperor or work with the empire’s military in an official capacity. They were technically criminals, but this status would only last for another few hours now that Hannah’s uncle Bruenor was back in town. Jezebel was unlikely to report either of them, but they always made sure not to keep her in the loop, just in case something were to happen.

  After a brief moment, warmth extended outwards from Hannah’s palm and began to seep into Adam’s drenched clothes. The leather tunic he wore soon dried alongside his linen pants, and he didn’t hide his surprise.

  “Look, I said I’d never Shift again, but that doesn’t mean I’m an idiot.” Hannah scoffed again. “I still plan on keeping up with my studies and making sure I’m not useless.”

  Adam smiled at her, making her glance away in a hurry.

  “I’ll be downstairs.” Hannah walked off, not looking back as she descended the staircase.

  After standing there for a brief moment, Adam sighed and stepped back in, closing the door to the ritual room as he prepared to clean up before getting changed. It would give time for Hannah’s maid to lay out his suit, and let him try to investigate what happened with the ritual earlier. At this point, his fever had dissipated and his mind was clear, almost as if nothing went wrong. But the existence of the lone fish scale on his altar was proof that something did indeed go wrong.

  Taking the fish scale and placing it into a small cupboard, he cleaned off the remnant blood from his face, as well as the remaining bloodstains from the human heart that he used as the altar’s Anchor and briefly extended his spirit towards it to make sure there was nothing remaining at the scene. After being satisfied that there were no lingering presences, he stepped out into the hallway and made his way to his bedroom.

  His house was small, so it didn’t take him long to cross the hall and enter his room. He found his traditional festival suit laying there for him, its green and yellow silk fabric was bright, almost comically so. Green on the left side and yellow on the right side- a traditional representation of the duality of the Diell Empire. On the one hand, it was wealthy and prosperous, and on the other it was filled with life and sustenance.

  If it were up to him, there wouldn’t be any maids handling business here- he felt it odd to pay others for something that he could do himself easily, especially since he considered Jezebel a friend at this point. However, it made Hannah feel better, and he wasn’t too uncomfortable by it so long as the staff members didn’t mind either. Seeing as Jezebel was usually the only staff member Hannah sent over, they had reached a non-verbal agreement that it was fine.

  Feeling like he was taking an obnoxious amount of long breaths today, he walked out of the room and made his way downstairs on the small staircase. Once he made it to the ground floor, he saw Hannah patiently waiting on the sofa. Her black haired maid, Jezebel, stood off to the side, ready to be of service to her lady at request. As Adam walked towards them both, Hannah stood up swiftly, neglecting to do so much as turn her head behind her to look at him.

  “Let’s be off then, I want to visit all the markets in at least the Pride Square before the parade starts this evening. Adam,” Hannah finally turned her head around to gaze at him in a deliberate manner, “we can meet Gusto and Marc after we see my uncle, I’m sure you’ll at least be interested in talking to him.” Hannah gestured to Jezebel, who quickly approached and opened the door outside. As Hannah swiftly walked out, Adam momentarily shook his head and mumbled under his breath. “It’s like we didn’t even break up…” As he followed her out the door, he made sure to pat his suit, finding his wallet securely tucked inside. While he was sure that Hannah could buy up most of the Pride Square if she needed to, he also felt that it was his responsibility to be at least capable of buying her something while he was there.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  …

  It was a lovely day, with small, puffy white clouds in a sky that seemed even more blue than usual. A light wind was blowing, rustling the trees in the perimeter of the marble Pride Square. Despite the size of the square being 200 meters across, it was teeming with people and merchants. This is because Diell Day was the largest celebration in the Empire each year. Coinciding with the day that the Diell Empire was founded 587 years ago, it also historically was the last day of summer and the celebration that ushers in autumn. Due to this, the festivities were both political and seasonal in nature, with market stands selling food, spices, household items and various political paraphernalia.

  Adam walked slightly behind Hannah and slightly ahead of Jezebel, who followed the pair at just enough distance to allow for private conversation. Adam glanced around, taking in the sights of the green and yellow flags hanging from the stalls and all the buildings nearby. Nearly everyone around him was wearing some form of Diell Day wear, whether full suits like himself or colored vests. The women were likewise formal, with most of them wearing green or yellow dresses similar to Hannah’s, or expressly extravagant dresses with voluminous waves of silk.

  Hannah naturally gravitated towards the statue in the center of the Pride Square- a marble sculpture 10 meters tall that showed the Empire’s founding; Diell Aurelius in his intricate golden mask and flowing red garments hoisting his golden Cudgel of the Sun up high, standing overtop a slain Devil alongside a pair of fully armored silver and gold knights representing all of the help Diell had along the way. The entire sculpture was even fully colored thanks to a spell the government routinely cast on the monument, making it seem half alive. Adam had to admit, as infrequently as he found himself in the Pride Square, the monument always took his breath away.

  As Hannah made it to the sculpture, she briefly curtsied as a show of respect for Emperor Diell. Adam likewise bowed deeply, and even Jezebel curtsied despite her distance. The trio walked to the back of the monument where a modestly sized band was playing various folk songs, their instruments’ sound enhanced by both magic and their innate skill as masters. As they were admiring the music, they suddenly heard a booming young voice shout out loud enough to overpower the music next to them.

  “Hannah!!! Adam!!!” They both turned swiftly to see a frail young man barely 1.5 meters tall rushing towards them, weaving in and out of the crowd. His blonde hair was thick, but well kept, and he wore a Diell Day suit similar to what Adam himself was wearing.

  “Good afternoon Gusto, I almost didn’t hear you over the sound of hundreds of people between us..” Adam smirked, extending his hand.

  Gusto firmly shook Adam’s hand with a grip of steel before even stopping his movement, his face turning beet red in embarrassment. He quickly bowed to Jezebel, realized his place, and then even more quickly bowed to Hannah in a fluster. Both curtsied back. Out of the corner of Adam’s eye, he spotted Jezebel avoiding looking at Gusto, her own face also heating up.

  Gusto scratched the back of his head and laughed to dismiss the embarrassment he had after making such a scene. “I’m still getting used to being a Chosen, the government gave their approval for me just today, so I spent most of the morning trying to harmonize with a Realm. Oh! That reminds me!” Gusto glanced at Hannah and bowed once again.

  “Lady Flos, please allow me to express my deepest gratitude to your uncle, Lord Bruenor Flos. It was only through his expert advice that I managed to finally find a Realm that harmonized with my soul properly.” He looked up and beamed, his face as bright as the soon-to-set sun. “After the festival, I’ll have to show all of you what I learned earlier today! I know I’ve always been a bit loud, but now I can even create shockwaves!”

  Adam, Hannah, Jezebel, and the nearby non-deaf citizens mingling about had zero doubt as to the validity of this claim. “Alright buddy, I know we usually say to talk at a 4, but lets lower than to a 2 until you get the hang of the Chosen stuff?” Adam composed himself first, managing to wince only slightly less than Hannah and Jezebel.

  Gusto flushed red, mumbling sorry in a voice he probably thought was soft. Adam took advantage of the lapse in Gusto’s field of view as he made eye contact with Hannah and mimed that Gusto was crazy, coo-coo, and otherwise unwell, getting a faint smile before she suggested browsing the shops.

  The rest of the afternoon went swiftly. Adam bought for himself a mask to wear in the image of the Friendly Moon- a crescent shaped helm with the forehead and chin both extending outwards comically far to present a crescent moon alongside a large smile and small eye holes. While masks were far from required in celebrations this time of year, he planned on Shifting quite often and he wasn’t sure if he would remember to buy one before the various harvest festival celebrations later in the year, even if he did have enough money from his parent’s inheritance.

  Gusto coincidentally happened to buy a pair of silver and emerald brooches in the shape of doves, claiming it was because he liked the design, but didn’t need a second one. In what was surely in his mind a romantic and smooth gesture going under the radar of everyone there, he found a way to give one half of the pair to Jezebel, who blushed and pretended to be unbothered. Adam and Hannah happened to be browsing the number of nails in a shop’s wall and the craftsmanship of some flags in the distance respectively, absolutely not catching onto this development. Gusto was the son of a wealthy cloth and spice merchant who also happened to be a member of the Senate, and he himself was paid nearly as well for being a Chosen in service to the Church of the Rainbow Pantheon, so he wasn’t afraid to spend the money. Even if the Rainbow Pantheon was an Angel on the lower end of the political power spectrum, it could still afford to pay its mid and high ranking members well. As a Chosen, Gusto had no concerns over his future financial situation, and was even secretly browsing for rings while at the festival. Unfortunately, his efforts were fruitless- he didn’t find anything he thought Jezebel would have liked.

  By the time the sun was setting, Adam had bought numerous ingredients for future Shifts despite Hannah’s scorn, and Jezebel was weighed down like a pack mule under all of the clothes and trinkets Hannah saw and bought on a whim, including even a full sized Empire flag that was stitched out of the hair threads of a golden tiger and the emerald feathers of what must have been a fair few dozen or hundreds of green headed tanagers.

  As they were leaving the last shop, Adam slowly stopped walking. “Hey, has anyone seen Marc yet today…” As he was about to say more, he began to feel slightly feverish for a brief moment before coming back to his senses, shaking his head to clear his mind. Hannah noticed this and shook her head no, with both Gusto and Jezebel likewise mentioning they hadn’t seen him. However, the group quickly moved on as Hannah’s face brightened into a beaming smile. She walked to greet a newcomer with great familiarity.

  “Uncle Bruenor, you made it!”

  Adam turned around to see the 2 meter tall Vice Admiral of the Accepted Pantheon’s missionary fleet, Bruenor Flos, walking over towards the group, the smile on his face just as large and beaming as that of his niece’s.