CHAPTER 102: A GRIM CHANGE

Conflux-The Capital City of planet Apraxis.

"How are the preparations for the Sojourn coming along?" A tall, handsome young man, standing with his hands folded behind his back at a very high balcony that overlooked a sprawling mass of people below, asked. "The pious seem to be especially diligent this year... There is still more than a month before the start of the Sojourn and yet they already fill the streets to the brim every morning." He stated plainly.

Another man in purple robes, standing behind him with his head bowed respectfully, replied, "I believe it is due to the fact that this year, another Saintess, and her blessed will be chosen, My Lord."

The young man’s eye twitched slightly, "Another Saintess? What’s so great about that...?" he muttered to himself like he was trying to really understand the reasoning of the people below. "It happens every ten years. So why haven’t they gotten used to it yet...?" He asked softly.

The man behind him simply chuckled softly without responding to the statement. With the amount of time he had spent with his master, he already knew when and when not to speak.

"The power of belief..." the young man stated, coming to his own conclusion. He sighed and stared up at the sky before turning sharply and acknowledging the man behind him. "You have information for me." He said.

"Yes, My Lord," he bowed deeper, waiting to walk behind his master as he walked back into his room. "A report has come from a Sentinel in the Jarvius region that one of the shadows under his watch seems to have... disappeared overnight."

"And..." the young man asked before turning sharply to look at the purple robed man with a tilt of his brow when he still didn’t respond. "What am I to glean from that?" he asked.

"..."

"Well... My Lord, you once asked me to keep an ear out for the little weird and unusual news no one would pay attention to..." the man replied meekly.

"Oh, yes!" The young man snapped a finger as he remembered. "Large happenings are always hidden in the little mundane clues... until they aren’t. I said that, didn’t I?" He smiled. "But, Emissary, what’s weird about this news?" His smile immediately left his face, "Shadows get killed in their field every other day. I mean, many of them are bound to get caught at least once in their lifetime...except for the best ones," he said.

"Aptly spoken My Lord." the emissary praised.

"So why bother me with this?" The young man asked, now intrigued.

"My Lord, the informant I got this information from tells me the report comes from a region under a Sentinel I know very well. In fact we basically grew up together. "The informant tells me this Sentinel specifically chose the words ’disappeared’ rather than writing it off as ’defected’ or ’absconded’." He explained to the young man whose attention he now fully had.

"If it had been any other Sentinel, I may have written it off simply as his choice of words and put the report aside, never to bring it up. But I know this Sentinel and his personality. He’s a very wily and calculative individual that never does anything more than what is expected. His purposeful choice of words and emphasis on that tells me he’s hoping to convey something more with his report to collator in charge," the emissary explained his assessment.

"And why can he not simply state his conjecture clearly in the message?" The young man asked the obvious question.

"Sentinels follow a strict transmission protocol that they must adhere to the letter when sending standard reports, My Lord. There mustn’t be any extra embellishments or personal opinion conveyed. Even this was cutting it close for this Sentinel," he explained.

"Unnecessary... but I also see it’s strengths," the young man analyzed. He paused for a moment after that to think of his next step. "Track this Shadow down." He ordered the Emissary. "Discreetly. Even the head Emissary mustn’t learn about it."

The Emissary nodded his head and bowed before leaving the room to execute the order.

.

At the same moment, in another area of the same colossal building where the young man had just gave his order, the head Emissary and a large man who exuded authority simply by existing, sat in a study room, discussing.

"Arcadius must have gotten this information by now, no?" The large man spoke.

"Yes he has, Exalted One." The Head Emissary nodded in assent.

"Hmm. Let’s see how he handles this information." The large man chuckled.

"What do you think of my methods, emissary?" The man said with a smile. "Do you think I am being unfair towards my other children by doing this?" He asked.

"...I believe there are reasons for every single thing you do, and you know what’s right for us all, Exalted One." The Emissary responded.

The Exalted One smiled wryly before laughing out loud. "This has nothing to do with what’s right. I am simply acting on my selfish desire."

"...which you can by all rights, Exalted One. No one would dare say otherwise." The Emissary bowed.

"Ha! Sometimes I forget why you were able to get to this position, but I’m reminded at times like these..." the Exalted One sneered. He kept silent for a second before his expression suddenly became serious.

"I keep having a bad feeling these days..." he tapped his finger on the table repeatedly. "You must think these little things I’m acting on are of little worth. But I always trust my guts... It’s at times like these when everything seems to be relatively peaceful that things slip through the cracks," he mused. "Let Arcadius get to the root of this disappearance. That is the minor report that sticks out the most of all so far. You can assign the other minor reports to the rest of my children. Let them handle those..." he waved. "Nothing must disrupt the Sojourn."

The Emissary took note of the Exalted One’s order before they delved into other issues of note.

But all through their discussions, the Exalted One seemed to be absent minded and surprisingly agitated. It was his habit to tap his finger against the table when he was sorting through his thoughts, and all through their discussions, he had subconsciously been doing so.

The Emissary tacitly excused himself after a short while, going to attend to some issues they addressed, leaving the Exalted One to his thoughts.

"Hehe" he chuckled, before muttering to himself, "Invictus, you’ve let yourself slip." He grasped the hand that he subconsciously kept tapping on the table. "Even a servant was able to tell that you are restless..." he muttered, thinking back to what had caused it in the first place. Back to the analysis he’d recently received from the Oracle...

He so desperately wanted it to be untrue. This was not the first time the Oracle would make an analysis, only to recalibrate and change words a day or two after.

But it had been two days... and the analysis still hadn’t changed.

Arcadius was no longer the Origin champion-select for this world... Someone else... somewhere in this world... had taken his place.