The Gambit of the Faceless God — Epic Fantasy

[Dark - Western Ventoria: Cyclone Cellar]

The building comprised dozens of large gates that primarily served companies such as Terra Firma to transport goods inside. They were also used for when our Ships had to be taken outside. One of said gates opened before our figures—and I turned towards Kate, one of Terra Firma’s head spokespersons, who stepped out of the transporting ship behind her alongside two of her guards.

“A high staff member will apprehend you soon.”

“Will they place the generators into the designated Ship?” Kate asked, our attires and tresses fluttering in the wind pressure from the nearby Ship.

“Yes, if that poses no issue,” I said carefully, realizing Emon would scold me if I wasn’t being cautious.

Kate took a step forward, her hands folded over each other behind her back, as she gazed into the overarching, far-spreading industrial interior of the Cellar.

“We don’t have to wait. I could have my staff implement the generators right away.”

She then turned her head towards me with a smile. “See it as an additional service, free of charge within the total price.”

“...”

I mean, Emon and Aurora aren’t present yet…

Would it hurt to let them do as they please?

…

…I don’t want to wait, either… It’s taking too long!

“...Let us go, then.”

Sorry, Emon!

However, right when I said this, a silhouette of a man gradually revealed itself as he walked towards the opened gate, his arms crossed behind his back.

It was Zaccheus—and his eyes widened slightly upon meeting the two generators Kate’s staff members carried in their arms. He stopped before them and leaned over to give them a good look.

“Are these the new generators you were looking for, Dark?”

“Greetings, Zaccheus,” Kate chimed in, stepping towards him and saluting formally. “Indeed they are. The type-12 to be exact. We are about to implement them into one of your ships.”

“Ah, it must be the ship we made for that Lunar Covenant member,” Wilfred said, placing his chin between his thumb and pointer finger. “Soon after you departed to Terra Firma to get a hold of these generators, Dark, I was curious and explored the ship myself. Glad to see you still have a keen awareness of situations and possible outcomes.”

I sighed with my eyes closed, burying my hands in the pockets of my jacket. “Appreciate it.”

“Very well,” he smiled before turning back to Kate. “Would you like me to lead the way?”

“Whatever works,” Kate responded. “We’re not very familiar with the Cellar, anyway.”

“Someone else is going to take care of them, Zaccheus,” I retorted, given a staff member should have been on their way here already.

“Ah, perfect. Let’s wait until the staff member arrives, then. Do you have a moment, Dark?”

“Of course.”

Right when I responded, a staff member, dressed in a white suit, approached from behind Zaccheus. They introduced themselves, and led the way into the Cellar, with Kate and her acquaintances following suit, leaving me and Zaccheus behind.

He then took no hesitation as he pulled me by my sleeve to whisper something in my ear.

“I need you to tell this to Emon when he arrives, since I’ll be busy for around twenty minutes.”

“What happened?”

***

-Emon-

Both Aurora and I made our way to my office room that was situated deep into the core of the Cellar; the place where rooms such as the Administrator’s Office, and the Head’s Chamber were situated. I lit up the room and plummeted on my chair after finding my Church’s Crest, as Aurora closed the door behind her. She then sat at the edge of my table with a carefree demeanour, speaking to me in a gentle tone,

“Found it?”

“I have,” I responded, as the adjacent door was abruptly opened with no foreword, effectively interjecting my sentence.

We both snatched our heads towards the door, silently watching the person walking into the room. It was Dark, who bore an apprehensive expression on his face—as if he tried his hardest to maintain composed under pressure. Thinking he must have gotten back from his duties, I asked him with no heed to his uncomfortable demeanour.

“Ah, Dark. How’s the inspections going?”

“...I went out on my way after finishing some final tasks before I was apprehended by Zaccheus,” he began, as both Aurora and I squinted our eyes. It took less than a second after hearing what Dark had to say for Aurora to stand up, and close the door behind Dark, who clearly was not in his clearest state of mind. She walked back to my table, listening to the continuation of his anecdote.

“He asked where you were, Emon. After realizing the both of you were still outside in regards to that letter, Zaccheus then took me to his office room, and revealed a second letter he received not too long after the both of you left. Strangely… he doesn’t remember who sent this to him…”

He then fished out a light brown letter from his white coat’s pockets, gazing at it discontentedly. I stood up, my hands placed on the table as I asked what the letter was about. He slightly shook his head and spoke in an awestruck voice,

“…You won’t believe it.”

He handed over the paper, as Aurora watched over my shoulder. I slowly revealed the paper, and began to read the contents…

Hello. I hope this letter finds you well, Emon Moreau.

This may seem a little… convenient for the likes of you, alongside Leaders of the Luria Assembly; the ones who managed to maintain the grandiose city of Ventoria in its fabulous state. The Church of Urdall, embraced with a magnificent culture and norms.

There will be no point in trying to deduce where this letter came from. The person responsible for handling important letters has no recollection of what has happened.

I sent one of my ‘Fleshes’ to the Assembly in order to tell you something truly, truly great.

I am cognizant of how long you have been trying to find the abducted members of Urdall’s church. I am no stranger to it, either.

It was during the peak of the previous night when I stumbled across the two remaining members, within the North-Eastern part of the beautiful city. They are currently still awaiting salvation atop the very peak of the municipality. The highest point of the poverty-filled land.

Time is ticking, my dear Emon. If you don’t save them, they will most likely die of malnutrition.

Why would I not save them? You may ask. Well, I was not able to be of aid to them, because I am someone who should not be thanked for. I am telling you this because, one day…

…The Pale Child will be born.

“…What?!” I shouted with no forethought.

“Is that…?” Aurora sounded, narrowing her eyebrows.

What is going on?!

He… he knows about my name, as well as my true identity?!

Okay, calm down, Emon. Think.

This seems perfectly reasonable regarding my identity.

Given this person knows about it, it must be someone from the Cyclone Cellar, or, perhaps even the Zephyr Assembly. The Monlay Assembly can also be no exception.

We are the only three Assemblies within Ventoria… but, no…! No! This… doesn’t make much sense!

Both the Zephyr and the Monlay Assembly aren’t that familiar with me, besides high-ranking people like Byron. If it Is someone from the Zephyr Assembly, it would contradict the alliance we made with each other. Say this is true, it would mean that we would be in another war since the church of Urdall would most definitely be associated with this conflict! We would withdraw from providing battle ships, which would undoubtedly greatly decrease their military worth!

On the other hand, if it was someone from the Monlay Assembly, it would have to be one of the Cowright family, the ones who rule it. However, if that were to be the case, we would have to disband our social construction plans with them. Meaning that they would have a hard time spending a lot more money and resources than usual to hold social events. In other words, it would be a loss situation for both Assemblies!

Then…

…Is it really someone from our side?

…No! That can’t be!

Nobody would dare to do something like this! And for what? For what reason would a Luria member go as far as learning about the location, send Zaccheus a letter rather than straightly tell us, and add some ominous phrases like that ‘Pale Child’?!

It seems so simple, yet so complicated at the same time!

Besides…

…Why do I feel like this person is telling the truth?

If Zaccheus still had memories regarding the person who sent him this letter, he would have definitely told Dark, and we would have learned about it.

This person wouldn’t be that stupid, I can already tell.

But they must have breached the Cellar somehow in order to reach him… Or, perhaps encountered him when he was taking a break outside.

If that’s the case… then they must have used the Zealot of Mist, in order to wipe off his memories from any event during the past hour or so.

Damnit!

“Do you think this might be a trap?” Dark sounded after several moments of silence. His voice delivered me from the clenches of contemplation, as I slowly raised my head. He then continued.

“I mean, it seems far too paradoxical for us to be handed over the actual location of the abducted members just like that, right?”

“It does seem fishy, but, consider this,” Aurora began, crossing her arms. “This has gone on for more than two months now. During this time, the victims were strangely either released or managed to escape the perpetrator. This went on and on for weeks until it eventually stopped. For the criminal to give up and simply hand us the church members seems a little too good to be true, considering every escapee does not have any recollection of their tragic circumstances—nor would the perpetrator be careless after learning that their victims have escaped their clutches.”

The fact that the escapees had no recollection of the specific event had to be the cause of either selective amnesia, or, any other mental condition that makes one forget a particular period in history, or it must have been a magical intervention. I assumed all of us would have surmised that this criminal used the Zealot of Mist, a Potion created by moulding numerous other rare Potions together to form what is called an ‘Exorci’. This was the same theory Phineas had laid on the table earlier today.

I took the word, planting the letter on the table after I regained my composure.

“That, as well as considering the possibilities of this letter being tampered with. But, we’ve been put in a tight position. We either disengage based on our suspicion and risk the deaths of the victims, or we make sure to head there first.”

“It will most likely not be an easy target,” Dark said. “I am assuming it’s a trap—and considering that the perpetrator manages to manipulate the recent memories of the victims, we might need to send some of our more capable members to the location since the Zealot of Mist is not the only way one is able to manipulate one’s mind, nor is it easy to get, even for the likes of us.”

“What do you think, Emon? They know your name as well as your identity. Do you think it may be someone from either our or the other assemblies?” Aurora asked. I took a deep sigh and responded,

“It is none of them.”

“What? But, think about it, Emon,” Dark began. “Don’t you realize how easy it is to deduce the individual? We could summon all of our members and even torture some main suspects if we will in order to get the truth out of them.”

He then smacked his hand on the table. “It is one of us, I just know it! If not, then it must be one of the other two assemblies! I was always sceptical about the Zephyr’s. I always had this feeling that they were getting sick of our alliance for whatever reason. The truth is so close to our reach, Emon! Let us go there first, and have a discussion with them!”

“Dark, this is what they want us to do. In addition to that, they might seek to spark a fire between the assemblies once more, just like it happened during the previous Ages. I already tried deducing the possibilities, but, given Zaccheus likely doesn’t know who gave him this letter, we can only assume that it is an outsider.”

“I agree with that, but,” Aurora added. “How do they know who you are?”

I took a few moments before answering.

“…I will go there myself.”

“What?” the both of them sounded, as Aurora added, “Are you serious, Emon?”

“I should be able to hold off on my own. Tell Zaccheus to direct any possible letters to the both of you in case we receive more.”

“But,” Dark began. “We could just send a high-ranking member of the church to inspect the case, Emon… You don’t have to do this yourself…”

Aurora lowered her crestfallen face, as I furrowed my eyebrows, staring into Dark’s nervous eyes.

“What did you say, Dark?”

“I am just saying you-”

“Are we not the same people? Are they not Ventorians? I am fully aware of my capabilities, you don’t need to tell me that. The Luria Assembly stands for a harmonious civilization—and I, as its First Administrator, will do everything in my power to ensure this happens.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose, taking a deep sigh.

“…That is what I realised. Our victims are most likely waiting for anyone who could save them. They should be reassured that within Ventoria, even if they find themselves in dire situations, help will always be available.”

“I understand, Emon…” Dark murmured.

“You’re fine,” I said, walking around the table. “I just want this to be done so that we don’t have to worry anymore.”

“Well, then, when are you going?” Aurora asked, her voice sounding even more gloomy than Dark’s.

“Tonight. I will need a different attire since the location itself… We all know what happens when you walk around with more… polished clothing than the majority.”

“I can imagine,” Dark raised his head to meet my eyes. “I can arrange a special black trench coat with a wide-brimmed hat for you if you’d like.”

“No need,” I said. “I may have something sitting at my place.”

I then walked towards the closed door, and held my hand on its knob, turned towards the other two. “I presume I won’t be seeing the both of you until tomorrow, right?”

“I think so, yes,” Dark said.

Aurora shyly threw a glance at me before silently staring at the ground, as Dark solemnly saw me off.

***

[Dark]

I turned back to Aurora, who looked as if she had just received heartbreaking news, which was… strange, but perhaps she may have felt the gravity of the situation. Nevertheless, I stepped towards her, and asked with a gentle tone,

“Hey, are you okay?”

I couldn’t see her face since it was veiled behind the curtain of her long brown hair. She took a few moments before answering with a bold and cold tone,

“Yes, I am fine.”