The Gambit of the Faceless God — Epic Fantasy

-Emon: The Red Falcon District: Eastern Ventoria-

Soon after we dropped Helvega off at the library, we arrived at the red falcon district, which was the official alias granted to the headquarters of the Zephyr assembly.

It was a large, vast modern building. Dozens of red falcon flags were hanging on the outer walls, their soft fabrics softly weaving in the wind pressure. Surrounding the building was an even larger courtyard; there were a group of four towering guards dressed in black suits standing around the main iron gates.

As soon as we were close enough within their proximity, the four guards respectfully saluted our arrival, as one of them stepped forward to greet us.

“Good day,” he began. “How can we help you?”

“The Luria Assembly received a formal letter that requested our presences,” I responded. “Is Byron, your head squad commander, present today?”

“He is. Thank you for arriving. Please, follow me inside.”

The three other guards silently watched our figures pass them by as we made our way inside the building. The interior was quite similar to the Cellar; The only difference being that the entrance hallway was significantly more narrow. Dozens of industrial-like lights spread far across the entire place, illuminating the furnishments that were scattered around.

***

After an adequate amount of time, we arrived at one of the esteemed hallways. The surface was covered in a smooth red carpet that reached towards the large wooden door at the other end of the hallway. Hanging upon the walls were important figures within the assembly, as well as numerous illustrations of their trademark flag.

Upon arriving at the large door, the guard gave it a number of firm knocks before slowly pushing it open, as the grandiose room materialized before our eyes. It was a spacious chamber, with a large, golden chandelier hanging from the ceiling; with a small number of bust statues representing the important figures we’d seen in the hallway.

A large, circular wooden table with intricate carvings was situated in the middle. Flanking it were four different individuals. However, right after the guard announced our arrival, I squinted my eyes in confusion as I saw both Phineas Leander and Wilfred Hymnwell sitting at the right side of the table.

Phineas was the charismatic, short blonde haired man dressed in a black suit, whilst Wilfred was the mischievous, slenderly-built man with curly dark brown hair, dressed in a loose brown blouse. They were both important figures in the Luria Assembly. Seeing Phineas turning his head towards me with a closed smile prompted me to speak without thinking twice, my voice echoing throughout the room.

“Phineas? Wilfred? What are you both doing here?”

“Good day, Emon,” Phineas responded with a friendly tone. “The message regarding the lockdown of the library for the upcoming festival is already being taken care of. Byron sent us a letter requesting our presences, hence why we’re here.”

I slowly turned my attention to Byron, who sat at the head of the table. He was a well-built man with weathered gray hair, dressed in a formal dark gray uniform that cleanly outlined his physique. Next to him, a man dressed in a layered dark purple religious robe also made eye contact with me.

Who’s that? I thought as Byron took the word.

“Greetings, Emon, Aurora. Excuse the confusion… Please, take a seat.”

I silently shook my head as I sat at the other end of the table, with Aurora sitting right next to me.

“It’s nice to see you again, Byron. It’s been a good while.”

“Indeed it has been,” he nodded seriously. “The holiday really flew us by. I arrived at the assembly expecting the gears would run normally again, but, sadly, that is not the case.”

A meeting consisting of Luria and Zephyr members, or, more broadly put, a meeting comprising individuals from different kinds of assemblies was not an uncommon thing in Deneve.

Because of the shared alliance between our assemblies, we collaborated on numerous kinds of events and phenomena. I, as an administrator, was someone considered a sort of ‘double agent’ when it came to governmental issues. On rare cases, the Zephyr assembly would need support in additional manufacturing of battle ships, as well as infrastructural knowledge concerning already-existing battle ships.

However, a case such as this was quite unusual considering the motivations behind it. Because the church of Urdall was Deneve’s central theocratic institution, if, perchance, societal problems would arise from the church, the ones running the assemblies would have to join arms and minds so that a solution would be brought to the problem. The current case regarding the abducted church members was just another example of this.

“Well,” Phineas began, crossing his arms. “It finally seems that you may speak your mind, now that we’ve all gathered.”

“…Yes,” Byron said stumblingly. “Before we do so, however…”

He then raised his left hand and reached it out to the man sitting next to him.

“…This is Joseph, a newly appointed creed member of the church. He was the one who notified us regarding this case.”

Joseph then slowly bowed his head in respect, as he spoke with conviction.

“It is an honour to meet the administrator, as well as the overseer of Luria. It saddens me our first encounter comes from ominous purpose.”

“Ominous purpose?” I asked. “What happened? I assume it must be regarding the abducted victims, no?”

“It is, yes,” Byron nodded. “Because of the accessibility of my investigation division, Joseph was quick to report a gruesome discovery he made at southern Ventoria…”

Aurora squinted her eyes in silence, eagerly listening along.

“He found the corpses of two young men who were a part of the church. After reporting it to one of our local departments within that area, their bodies were confiscated, and their identities have since then been revealed.”

I let out a deep sigh through my nose as I leaned forward. Phineas and Wilfred kept their hands crossed, their eyes, too, squinted in apprehension.

“…Who were they?”

“Qlint and Quinby,” Byron responded. “They were brothers from a middle-class family named the Dalleys. Qlint was just eighteen, while Quinby was nineteen. Since we’re still neck deep into the abducted members' case, being met with the knowledge of their deaths…

…It must not be taken lightly.”

“Hm…” Phineas sounded, rubbing his chin. “It does sound unanimous to the overarching case. But that won’t necessarily explain that that would be the truth, would it?”

“It almost certainly is.” Byron retorted, as Joseph crestfallenly lowered his head once more. “In retrospect, this case has been going on for two whole months. Any member of the church, may it be a cleric, acolyte, or a creed member, was randomly chosen to suddenly disappear from their homes.

Strangely, the perpetrator would sporadically ‘release’ some of his victims at unusual locations. We would of course thoroughly examine the place as we as the surrounding areas from where the victims were exactly released, but, despite that, not a single answer would ever come to light.”

“Where were the brothers found?” Phineas asked, as Joseph responded with a solemn tone.

“I was going on a morning stroll through a nearby forest when I found them laying next to each other within a small alcove, still dressed in their church clothes…”

Wilfred then chimed in, aimlessly staring into the facade of the table.

“That does sound like a rather strange place to put bodies, doesn’t it?”

“I beg to differ,” I responded, closing my eyes in a sigh. “If the perpetrator has a tendency of scattering a number of their victims throughout all of Deneve, then, considering a forest being a dense place, it’s almost as if they wanted us to discover their bodies.”

“Indeed,” Byron replied. “A forest seems way too betraying to store bodies in, unless one decides to bury them tenfold deep whilst throwing a second, or third layer of soil mixed with anything that could ward off the smell of their rotting bodies.

They were placed quite in the open, so it is clear that they did this with the intention of seemingly ‘betraying’ themselves.”

“That would also make sense if we put the releasing of the victims into consideration,” Phineas added. “The only problem here, is that none of the victims had any recollection about what had happened, as well as the details regarding the location they were at. But, we’ve already broken this theory by assuming that they held a vast amount of Zealot cards.

…However, that begs the question, why do this in the first place? Was it all a setup for them to finally start murdering people? Were the brothers specific targets? If we throw away the first question, then why would they not murder the abducted victims?”

“It wouldn’t make sense to abduct numerous people and release them repeatedly over the course of two whole months,” Byron sighed. “It seems that there is no adequate reasoning for this. However, it could possibly make sense if it was some sort of setup to marinate us in an anticipating sensation, before shattering our souls with the murders.”

“Then, do you think it may be some instigation of war?” Phineas asked, prompting us all to nervously turn our pupils towards him.

Silence followed after his words. After several moments, Joseph broke it with a respectful tone.

“I fail to believe that to be the case… The church of Urdall is known to have been foreign to religious and societal discords. The Gaian temple’s very nature resembles unity and peace throughout all nations. If, hypothetically, the church of Valmar had been the centre piece of Deneve, then… things would be a lot different.”

“We specifically called Emon and Phineas here so that we could establish a prompt re-alliance within this group,” Byron spoke. “Since you both brought your trusted acquaintances, I believe having you, Aurora Jinton, and Wilfred Hymnwell joining us will be for the better.

I must kindly ask you all to be present here on the next day to further discuss our plans. The investigating works have mostly been finished, so there’s not much we can do except come up with a strong plan to identify the culprit.”

“Say, Joseph…” I began, leaning backwards with my hands perched in the pockets of my coat. “Which division did the brothers hail from?”

“They came from the Indoctrination division,” Joseph responded. “This would have been their very first year as Indoctrination members.”

“…I see. I would like to pay a visit to their parents, if that poses no problem.”

Aurora cautiously glanced at me, as if knowing what my intentions were. Byron then responded to me with a firm tone.

“They have already been visited and questioned, so I would advise against it if you’re planning on interrogating them.”

“Not at all. It’s just how I would like to sort of ‘re-enact’ the scene, even in a non-direct, ambiguous way.”

“Very well.”

He snapped his fingers, causing the door to open as a guard marched inside. After instructing him to grab a letter that sat at the other end of the room on top of a counter, I received the letter, as Byron continued.

“Here’s their address. I hope you can find something that passed our visions.”

“I will do my best.”

“Will we leave it at this, then?” Phineas chimed in. “At what time will we be regrouping?”

“Eight in the evening,” Byron said. “We’ll be going through the investigation thoroughly which will cost us some time today.”

“Perfect,” I responded, raising myself from my seat as Aurora followed. “We shall take our leaves then. I wish you success with your progress.”

“Thank you, Emon. Good luck with your examination.”

***

Back outside, as we made our way back in her car, Aurora let a closed smile form on her face, as she turned towards me.

“I could tell from your face that you weren’t buying everything they said.”

“Correct,” I nodded. “One thing really didn’t match up for me, if we’d be taking the current abduction case into consideration. As soon as Joseph mentioned their division, I remembered that, around a month ago, their division developed extremism-like characteristics due to the abduction case.”

“Ah, yes, you told me about it. It essentially concerned the outrage of the members against the Zephyr assembly for their incompetence, in particular.”

“Indeed. It wouldn’t be too crazy to consider that they most likely formed a group and were planning on protesting against the assembly for this very reason. I have some assumptions I am afraid will be confirmed once we know more about the victims. Something tells me it may not be linked to the abduction case, even though how much at odds the similarities are… as if the perpetrator wants us to assume that it’s tied to the abducted members’ case.”

“…It’s going to be a long drive, though,” she sighed. “Have you had any breakfast?”

“Not really, no…”

“Are you not hungry? Come, let’s head to The Pearl for some food.”

“I’m not really hungry, in all honesty…”

“Doesn’t matter! You need some food in order to think sharp. You will thank me when you’re standing before the parents, not having to worry about an empty stomach.”

“Sure then…” I sighed.

Without hesitation, she turned on her car, and drove out of the large courtyard after the large iron gates slowly opened.