What Merik has been doubting had been proven true today.

  After all, the bitterness in his coffee could make facial muscles of an ordinary person, clenched several degrees in a weirdly, disgusted manner.

  However, he was drinking it as if it was just a tasteless water.

  It seemed that he was slowly losing his sense of taste.

  Meanwhile. the morning strolling was still the same as ever – their little world was still functioning with or without Merik acting as their protector.

  Having done nothing but pondering over his next steps towards his goal, Merik started to find out more about his situations and his beliefs over life.

  He was now powerless; in a way, since all he had now was his knowledge and experiences over the deadly paranormal cases and his life-long accumulated marksmanship.

  He could make do but having no affinity towards any of the elemental powers was now glaring at his face in the form of mockery.

  These past few cases were the example, after all.

  With his brain and his little junior, Cora’s brawn, using her fiery powers, solving the cases were not as tedious and taxing as their first ever case together.

  Though they were managing just fine, they haven’t had a proper conversation since the funeral; precisely for a week.

  Glancing at Cora, who was similarly enjoying coffee as him and was seemingly comfortable with this silence, Merik slightly smiled.

  “Damsel in Distress”, the most anticipated play, was supposed to be today if it weren’t for the unfortunate rescheduling but the good thing was that it only postponed for a week, so Merik didn’t despair much.

  “If nothing else, I’ll be going back home.”

  “Alright.”

  Merik finished his “wonderful” coffee in a gulp and promptly left – to go back home and commence on his daily trainings.

  Even though he was powerless, didn’t mean he was going to let himself be a helpless liability, forever. That’s why he started to take his mental and physical exercises far more serious than he ever did.

  A bit taxing overall, but he loved training his body – the stronger, the better. For the mental trainings, the Overseers had all kinds techniques, even involving certain drugs but he decided to just spam the most basic training as old as history, which was meditating.

  After all, a crazy therapist couldn’t cure a lunatic. And meditating helped.

  Right as Merik left, Cora traced his movements and subtly stared at him, leaving the cafe.

  Merik, if pretending to be fine from his injuries previously, was now in a much better state.

  A relieved breath of air slightly escaped from her mouth before complex emotions were visible in her eyes again.

  In her line of sight was a neatly wrapped bandage on her right hand – a painful reminder that will stick with her for the rest of her life.

  She glanced back at the slowly disappearing black silhouette before shaking her head and started enjoying her coffee once again.

  ________________________________________________________________________

  The streets of Brownmourn were filled with all kinds of liveliness – every layer of people could be seen here, varying from ordinary pedestrians to wealthy nobles on the luxurious carriages.

  Being second Captial in their country, this large city held the title of overwhelmingly populated metropolis as well as a home to the most devoted of Light.

  Merik decided to stroll for a while in downtown, for a change of pace, but there he saw masses of people heading towards a church.

  Sunday, huh.

  Every Sunday, people willingly and merrily attended to Churches of their respective regions but to Merik’s shame, he was never a religious one.

  Believing in Light was one thing but he also knew that it was their authorities’ way of maintaining the overall emotions of the masses – similar to the morning strolling.

  Accumulating negative emotions over a certain period of time was prone to the risk of turning into frenzied abominations as they could easily be exposed to the invisible threats or easily manipulated.

  By the protection of Light, the risks were still there but could easily be suppressed.

  Once accidents broke out, that’s where the Overseers came in, to contain the situations from further worsening.

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  It really was a peaceful and prospering country, ever-evolving towards a wondrous utopia.

  Needless to say, the Grand Cathedral of Light, was the most popular of all.

  Their vast city was divided in four halves – Eastern, Western, Northen and Southern Squares and in the very center was the said Cathedral, which also explained its popularity as a highly prominent landmark.

  Even Merik was hesitating to go in; seeing how the masses were entering the it in a line that resembled an endless ant trail.

  Though, he had already come here out of his way, even postponing his trainings – he might as well go in.

  So, he decided to queue up for the line and granted, after some excruciating and tiring time, he finally managed to enter the Grand Cathedral of Light.

  Merik thought that describing how the famous cathedral was constructed by divine beings and, it being the stairs of Light didn’t even manage to do the cathedral justice.

  The moment he entered the said holy building; he felt that any mortal sin unwelcomingly stuck to his soul was instantly cleansed away.

  Furthermore, he noticed that the ever-cleansing holy vibrance was apparently being emitted by a huge statue in the middle of the golden hall, that resembled a graceful woman that bore a motherly smile.

  The sacred sculpture was, in fact, a tribute to the one and only true God, Light herself. No one knew what the actual God looked like, however, that didn’t stop them in reimagining their God in an extremely reverend way.

  With its grand, golden hall that appeared to be boundlessly expanding and in its breathtaking embrace, it was as if they were peacefully being caressed by the warm lights that were shining upon them.

  As foretold by its another title, the stairs of Light, ascending towards the entrance and entering the said cathedral was as if entering the divine kingdom of Light, herself.

  The ceremony was about to start so Merik, without thinking much, took a seat beside an old man, who was holding a cane in front of him.

  They both greeted in a polite nod and patiently waited for the ceremony to start.

  Then it started soon after.

  Although the cathedral was taking host to thousands of people, basically almost the entire region, not a single sound was made except footsteps from a man who was steadily walking along the hallway and approaching the altar.

  He was a frail, old man with gentle eyes in which abundant meanings of life and inner peace could be found. He was wearing a yellowish golden robe on which several distinct depictions of Light’s symbols were beautifully drawn.

  His calm and smiling eyes made ones feel at ease.

  Once he reached the altar, he smilingly spread his gaze all over the silent crowd.

  And he slowly gave a speech in a low yet clear tone.

  “Welcome. Welcome, sons and daughters of Light. It’s nothing but great honor to be able to serve you once again. In my humble yet proud voice, I’m also honored to be a bridge between our beloved mother and you, proud sones of daughters. That pleases me to no end, I must say. Seems getting old makes one sentimental, huh.”

  Light chuckles sounded in the grand hall.

  “Every week, seeing all of you here whether it be alone, with your beloveds or even with the friendly strangers next to you, is the greatest gift for me as well as to yourselves. Because of you, devoted sons and daughters of Light, acting in guidance to the Light’s way, our Empire continues to prosper – becoming an eventual, peaceful sanctuary that can shelter all kinds of kindred souls without any differences. Your unbending faith and love for our Mother is worthy of praise. You, being here weekly is but a mere show of your absolute faith after all.”

  Merik noticed that some of the people shifted in their seat in a pleasant manner.

  “Though, through some unfortunate circumstances, I must acknowledge a bit of sorrowful news. As you know, our Empire is currently, in conflict with the foreign land of Azshax, and I’m sure that has been weighing on your minds a lot. Granted, nothing comes out unscathed in a violent conflict between masses of people and even if our country holds immense advantages over the latter, we have our undesirable losses, as well.”

  The old man took a pause and silently watched the crowd’s reaction turning gloomy. After that, he calmly continued,

  “However, today is quite special. With the love of Light and the might of his Majesty, we have been gaining apparent upper hand over those invaders past these weeks, slowly repelling and suppressing the evil, the same way our beloved Mother once repelled the blasphemous Darkness into the void. We have now broken the dreadful stalemate. Thus, to achieve absolute victory is now no longer a far dream.”

  “Thus, let us sincerely pray for our Empire’s safety and our brave armies’ inevitable victory together.”

  Merik’s brows slightly raised over the said information and went into deep contemplation over the matters.

  He knew that people have been feeling nervous and unrest over these past weeks with all the rumors of the war against Azshax, blooming.

  They were not to blame since their neighboring country was filled with brutes and savages that wanted nothing but violence as they were trying to invade Eurona every chance they’d got since the ancient times.

  The two countries had a long history of one trying to dominate the other but none of them managed to break out of this long-lasting stalemate.

  Because to have absolute victory over another meant that they have to conquer the deadly mountain areas that were dividing them like a steep wall that was seemingly containing all hell from breaking loose.

  The skirmishes that the countries had been in all these years were just invading the outer skirts of each country, in a way of probing each other’s might and prowess.

  Skirmishes or not, there were a lot casualties from both sides, though Azshax suffered a lot more since Eurona’s army was a lot more strategically advanced and well-coordinated than the savages whose specialties lie solely in elemental powers and physical strengths.

  Compared to the believers of Light, their powers didn’t seem to matter much.

  By the time Merik’s thoughts stopped wandering around, the prayers had almost reached its end.

  Their religious gesture was holding both hands on their heart while bowing their head reverently which meant they were submitting completely to their beloved Mother, Light.

  “Praise the Light.”

  “Praise the Light.”

  “Praise...”

  The prayer was beautifully spoken by the experienced old man and by the end of it, each and every participant here felt that their heart extremely calming and every negative thought in their mind finally washed away.

  Merik did similarly hold his hands on his heart, not to come out as offensive.

  After the ceremony ended, Merik while leaving, subtly glanced back at the old man on the altar. The old man was being greeted by lines of people and despite his weak appearance, he nonetheless greeted every single one of them in a sincere manner; his eyes smiling the same.

  Even though he understood the truth behind these weekly ceremonies, a satisfied smile was apparent on his face when Merik left the cathedral.