The amulet was composed of a ruby carved in the shape of a triumphant sun disc. The gemstone glimmered with a barely perceptible light, which was known to grow stronger when exposed to natural light.

The Sun's Heart, as it was called, was a powerful artifact, supposedly granted to the church by Aminatrea herself at the dawn of the Third Age. It harnessed the strongest Fire Magic known to mortals, and could lay waste to entire cities if used to its full potential. Of course, such power came with a cost, and each activation of the amulet would drain the user's life in proportion to the effect desired.

Nevertheless, by sacrificing a few years of lifespan she could have easily disposed of the intruder if he'd proved hostile. At least, she could have if she'd been given the opportunity. Unfortunately, the Dragonknight's follower was not only skilled, but well informed.

[I will need to review our security measures. That man was probably using some sort of stealth ability, but was nevertheless able to bypa.s.s the sensors on our external entrance. Unless he came in through teleportation, which I doubt since only the Headmaster of the University could transport another person through our wards, this means there is a flaw in our defenses.]

She paused to consider this new idea. [It is said that Emmanuel and the Hero of Almir have a close relations.h.i.+p...but, no, I don't think he would risk a confrontation with us, at least so directly. It would be much more his style to use this information to pressure us in a more roundabout fas.h.i.+on. That he was willing to let us off with mere reparations suggests that the intruder might have genuinely been representing the Dragonknight, and that he does not want a conflict. If that is the case...]

Alaine left her office and walked over to her receptionist, a small and slightly nervous man named James, who was p.r.o.ne to fits of stuttering when he was agitated. Despite his flaws, he was among the most competent of organizers and administrators, and his efforts in managing the affairs of the order saved her a great deal of time and ha.s.sle, allowing her to attend to more important matters.

"James." She intoned once she was at the man's elbow. He was still focused on the task in front of him, an expense report from the looks of it, and had evidently not noticed her arrival.

"AH! Y-Your Holiness! Y-you su-sur-surprised m-me." Her receptionist stuttered.

"Indeed. In any event, call the council together for an emergency meeting. There are some issues to discuss. Additionally, send word to Captain Kendrick. Have him place High Priest Ulan and Minister Varus under guard until I tell him otherwise."

"G-guard? are y-you s-s-sure, Your Holiness?"

"Yes. Make it quick. We do not want things getting any more out of hand than they already have." She shot back before returning to her office.

As she was sitting down, she noticed that she was still clutching the Sun's Heart. Putting it down on the surface of her desk, she was disturbed to notice a slight tremor in her arm that spoke to more than just the gravity of the situation. Alaine glanced around the room, for the first time not feeling completely at ease in the simple chamber. Needing to calm her heart, she closed her eyes in prayer.

[My G.o.ddess, I pray to thee. Though I know this is all part of Destiny, the great plan that you and the other Creators have laid out for us, I confess a lack of understanding. Why is it that you have seen fit to bestow the Hero of Almir with such power? What is it that you wish to see him accomplish? What do you want your faithful to do, now that he has become a force to be reckoned with? I pray that you will bestow upon me the wisdom to see the correct path, and the will to follow through on it.]

For a few moments, she waited, and was rewarded for her patience when her skin began to warm, as if exposed to the midday sun. After a few seconds, the sensation was gone, and with it any trace of her unease.

Mind clear, she opened her eyes and pulled out a fresh sheet of paper from her desk. She would need to draft a few doc.u.ments before meeting the council. Thankfully, long years of practice had made her quite skilled at it.

--------------------------------

Aminatrea sneezed, something that was quite unusual for her considering that she had no need to breathe. Her current circ.u.mstances, however, made it inevitable.

"Ugh. Do we need to use real flour for this? It's getting everywhere." She asked Kulina, the Ascended G.o.ddess who bore the aspects of Hearth, Home, and Family. The plump and cheerful woman was the closest thing Aminatrea had to a friend.

"Now, now, dear. You complain about that every time, If you want to be good at baking, you will need to get messy from time to time. It's all part of the process. Besides, it tastes a lot better when you make it from scratch, rather than creating it with divine power."

"If you say so." The Sun G.o.ddess replied, unconvinced. In her personal opinion, Kulina's sweets were equally delicious when made in either way, so all this mess was completely unnecessary. That being said, she didn't want to risk offending her friend. The last time they got into an argument she'd spent nearly a century deprived of Kulina's delicious concoctions, and the resulting withdrawal symptoms had been extremely unpleasant, psychosomatic though they might have been.

"I do say so," Kulina commented brightly, "and I think the cake should be just about done, we can swap it out for your biscuits now."

Aminatrea looked down at the misshapen lumps that were the products of her last half-hour of effort, and tried not to feel too down about it. Despite her friend's instructions and the whole divinity thing, which should have made a difference in her opinion, she'd never really gotten the hang of baking.

"Alright, let's get this…" She was interrupted by a sudden prayer from one of her most influential mortal servants. Ordinarily, such a thing was handled by her followers, but they'd evidently thought the matter important enough to pa.s.s along to her.

Once she'd gotten the contents of the message, she sent back a momentary burst of contentment to a.s.suage the Pontifex's doubts before turning to the real situation at hand.

"Sorry, Kulina, it looks like something came up. I'll have to postpone this for a bit."

Her friend gave the usual rea.s.suring smile. "That's fine, dear. I'll get your biscuits cooking. By the time you're done with your business they should be ready to eat."

Aminatrea smiled back, enjoying the warm emotions the G.o.ddess of Family seemed to inspire wherever she went, before teleporting to her solar to contemplate the implications of the Pontifex's prayer.

Looking down over the representation of Ea, she thought. [So the Hero of Almir is a youth with unnaturally enhanced abilities. One so unusual that someone believed he was some kind of monster in disguise. I had my suspicions when he first appeared, but I figured it was Teun acting to save her favorite continent. However...]

She tried searching for the man in the city of Almirn, and was able to locate several individuals who were related to him in some fas.h.i.+on, but couldn't lay eyes on him at all, despite it being the middle of the day. This could only mean one thing.

"Haha! Found you at last, you little b.u.g.g.e.r." She muttered to herself, causing the two angels guarding the room to exchange glances with one another.

Realizing that she'd spoken out loud, she pointedly ignored the pair before continuing the rest internally. [Now, if I can just get Cariel to actually do her…]

Her thoughts trailed off as she reviewed the actions of her servant over the last few days, realizing that angel had succeeded in the first part of her mission on two separate occasions, but had utterly failed to follow through on it. Cariel has seemingly met with an individual whose ident.i.ty remained obscured in the recorded memories, and even spoke to him at length. Yet, somehow, the angel didn't recognize him.

"That birdbrained, muddle-headed, combat junkie! I didn't think it was possible, but she's actually become an even bigger idiot since taking mortal form!" She roared, unable to contain herself. A nimbus of flame erupted from her body, raising the temperature so much that the angel guards were forced to retreat from the room.

After a few moments, Aminatrea calmed down and concentrated on what she needed to do.

[It's okay, she's in the right location, I just need the idiot to focus long enough to establish a serious connection. It even looks like she picked up a helper at some point, so maybe together they can get this worked out...What in the h.e.l.l is that?]

The cat beastman that was currently accompanying Cariel had an unnaturally potent curse laid atop her soul. One that could have only come from a divine source. After reviewing the records, which unfortunately had more of those blank spots that could have only stemmed from the current Hero's direct presence, she concluded that the beastman must have been involved in the affair in Wyrport. Somehow, she was subjected Anhilus's curse in the process.

While the effects weren't exactly stable, they appeared to have something to do with negatively influencing the beastman's destiny, making otherwise impossible outcomes not only possible, but likely. Simply put, the curse ensured that its victim failed at almost everything they tried to accomplish, regardless of how well prepared they were.

[Hmm...it seems that Cariel's failures are not entirely her own fault. If I want this to work, I'll either need to fix that beastman or have Cariel abandon her.]

She paused to mentally inventory her resources, to see if there was anything that might be useful in this case, but she eventually came to the conclusion that she would need to speak to the other creator G.o.ds to be able to do anything lasting.

[If she was a direct follower, it might have been possible to cure her, but as it is, I'm largely unable to influence her destiny directly without the other Creators getting involved. That won't do at all. It's bad enough that they know Cariel's down there in the first place. If they get wind of her mission being repeatedly sabotaged by a distortion of destiny, I'll never hear the end of it. No, it's better to simply have the two separate, and let Cariel continue unimpeded.]

After a few moments of concentration, she sent a divine message down to the surface, informing her idiotic servant that the Dragonknight she'd met on two occasions was the same Hero she'd been looking for, and that if she wanted to succeed in her mission, she would need to leave behind the beastman that had been following her from Wyrport.

[Now, hopefully she understood that. I'm not sure what changes have been going on in that tiny mind of hers, but surely I kept it simple enough, right?]

Dismissing her ongoing concerns, she returned to the kitchen, only to be embraced by the delectable smell of baked goods.

"Oh, you're back just in time to try some of this, "Kulina exclaimed happily while handing her a slice of the fruit-infused and b.u.t.tercream-iced cake, complete with crystalized sugar lumps that had been shaped into tiny flower blossoms. Aminatrea could already feel her apprehensions fading as a much more primal sensation took over.

She took a bite, and the resulting sense of contentment washed away all of her worries. Before too long, she was laughing happily with her friend as they surveyed the ruinous remains of her biscuits, once they'd come out of the oven.