Father Thomas, still commanding the respect of the General Assembly, took a deep breath and jabbed his index finger at Relias. “According to doctrine, the Church must resolve the Crisis of Faith within 30 days. I would remind you that your authority in this circumstance is temporary and that at the end of the 30 days, the General Assembly will regain its control, including the ability to vote for new council members… or even reinstate those suspended. For the sake of our Church and all that depend on it, please lead us with compassion and mercy, if not for ourselves, but for those we serve.”

“Father Thomas, you have my word that I will make every effort to do so.” He paused, considering Procul and Pravum. “I would have, for safety’s sake, Father Pravum and Father Procul placed in protective custody at this time. With the assassin unaccounted for, they may be vulnerable.”

The assassin wasn't the only one who wanted a piece of them.

After catching a thoughtful frown from Nora, I watched Aleph and Tetora’s faces explode in self-satisfied smirks as they watched the two councilmen throw a fit upon Relias’s soft-spoken order. Not to be intimidated by two squawking men of the cloth, a squad of red soldiers hauled them away almost cheerfully.

How quick everyone is to turn!

Vernie glanced up at the High Temple as if she could see through its stained-glass windows. “The assassin might try to jump…” she explained, pointing at the abandoned crossbow. “Too bad there’s not much we can do at that point.”

“Scribe,” Father Thomas barked abruptly. “You are not yet dismissed. You will continue to record the minutes of this Crisis without fail!”

“Your Honor,” the whiny young man replied, still backing away as if he were going to enter the High Temple himself. “It’s just… I seemed to have run out of parchment. I shall simply get more from my office and—”

It’s HIM! I would never, ever forget such a sniveling voice!

“Stop the line!” I shouted in alarm as I pointed at the scribe. A moment later, the rest of the Holy Order of Gold had formed up beside me, with Relias, the only exception, looking somewhat confused.

Sorry, no time to explain!

I grabbed the hilt of Holy Celestia, drawing it and pointing at the person I hadn’t heard from since accidentally spying on Olethros after our first demonic encounter. “Tell me, Amos, how many Masters do you serve these days?”

“Amos?!” Relias roared, his face contorting with primal rage, veins bulging at his temples. The fire in his eyes burned brighter than the sun as he seethed with fury.

The scribe cringed, looking back and forth between us both in terror. “I… beg your…”

He never finished his sentence, most likely greatly disturbed by the sound of half a dozen holy weapons readying themselves in unison. He took flight, discarding his human appearance and translocating his smoky form haphazardly through the crowd, saving precious seconds by not bothering to reform himself between subspace jumps completely.

“He’s headed for the magic circle!” Vernie cried, running ahead to find an opening where she could mark him. It would be impossible since everyone else had decided to hinder us by devolving into a chaotic, mindless panic.

“There’s a demon in the Sanctum!” someone shouted as they cut in front of me.

I tried to go around them, only for another whirl of robes to bump into my side. “Who’s strong enough to fight it?!”

“I’m not going to risk my life for something like this!”

“If you’re not going to do anything to help, then get the hell out of my way!” I yelled, half-inclined to bulldoze with my targe now in hand.

“Halt, Captain Lightbringer!” I heard Relias call desperately from far behind.

Sorry… but I can’t risk losing him!

Perhaps being trapped within the confines of the Sanctum weakened him, or maybe he was still reeling from Captain Corwin’s silver signal from earlier, but it seemed that Amos’s flight from the Forums was straining him. He paused at times as if waiting to gather himself up before pushing forward again, and I could see what appeared to be translucent glitches within his miasmatic shape. Even with his fitful starts and stops, I was still out of arms’ reach when he hit the magic circle. As soon as he crossed into its plane, it turned green and sent him off to the wild beyond.

“Damnit!” I skidded to a stop in the middle of the magic circle, unable to follow.

“Last coordinates locked, Chosen One!” a dark mage said with a proud salute, her other hand charging the circle. “May your hunt end successfully!”

The second time through subspace was much easier since I had learned to keep my eyes shut. As soon as my feet touched the ground, I opened my eyes and searched around desperately. I appeared to be out in the Periphery, with a busy market to the north, a large park to the east, and a foul stench coming from the south, with Amos nowhere in sight.

Which way did he go, George? Which way did he go?!

After scanning the area again, I kicked at the ground in dismay. “How am I supposed to track something that can travel through different planes and change its form in the blink of an—”

Oh hell, let’s not tell Nora about this one. I’ll never hear the end of it.

“Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me.” Raedine’s voice was barely a whisper.

“Inveni entem sentientem… Amos!” I shouted, copying Raela from my recent dreams. The wind whipped up around me, pulling me straight toward the open sewer.

Of course, he went in there!

Mentally adding a double multiplier to the punishment I was going to dole out on him for forcing me into yet another stench pit, I followed the path underground.

Stop thinking about how many kinds of microorganisms thrive down here.

My aura illuminated the way as I rounded a corner, alighting the beady little eyes of a nest of rats.

I’ll go my way, and you go yours. Let’s never cross each other’s paths again.

I came to a halt as the sewer line intersected with a wide curve. While the wind pulled my hair towards the right, I noticed the cylindrical stone and iron wall was marked with the Roman numeral III.

I remember. This is that weird circle where there’s no path straight through.

It was also where the left side would be a shortcut since the right jogged around a bit before joining again on the other side of the mysterious ring.

Unless I was misremembering it… Could I risk falling farther behind if I was wrong?

But I’d never catch up to him at this rate if I didn’t take the chance…

… No. I’m not going to second-guess myself on this one! I remember the map clearly, and I remember this whole suspicious area!

Throwing caution to the wind, or more accurately, to its opposite direction, I chose to divert and take the left shortcut instead. While it was shorter, it seemed that this way was filled with more… let’s call it water… than I had anticipated. My boots splashed and sloshed as I traversed the area quickly, trying not to slip on the wet stones. Eventually, I was rewarded with the sight of waning daylight breaking through a sudden hole in the ceiling, with steps leading back up into the city.

After ascending the stairs, the wind tugged again at my cape, pointing toward… another magic circle.

I saw the telltale flash of green, realizing that with even the shortcut, I was falling farther and farther behind.

“Halt!” a priest shouted, holding up his hand as I stepped into the circle. “All circles have been placed on lockdown by order of Holy Sage Relias!”

What?

Why would he do that? It’s not like Amos would be one to comply with such orders!

And how did he do that in such a short amount of time?

“I’m Captain Raelynn Lightbringer, and I command you to send me through on the last known coordinates. I saw the demon take this very circle!”

“Th…there’s no demons in Chairo! You’re mistaken, madam!”

“Are you saying you didn’t see that floating mass of black energy come through here and commandeer your circle?” I asked archly, annoyed at the idea that some stuffed shirt would get in my way.

The priest began to fidget. “I must obey the orders of—”

“Oh, for the love of Euphridia,” the dark mage standing next to him exclaimed, rolling his eyes. “Captain, you’re all clear. Ignore my Master; he’s just terrible at handling conflict.”

...Master?

“In…insubordination!” the priest cried, pointing wildly at the dark mage who was busy charging up my transportation.

“Yes, yes,” the dark mage sighed in exasperation. “If anyone asks, I’ll take the blame, like always. You’re good to go, Captain.”

The circle turned green, and once again, I whirled through subspace, tumbling around in different directions.

If I think about it like being in a large dryer, it made the whole experience laughable, but only in retrospect.

My unceremonious arrival deposited me near an abandoned alleyway, walled up on all sides with only a few doors to some dilapidated buildings. With natural sunlight finally fading as late evening settled in, the ghostly swirling veil of the spinning crystals on the city's outskirts stirred the shadows around me. The magic circle I found myself in was empty of operators, and the stones forming its boundaries were cracked and dislodged. I took a few steps forward, but the air about me remained eerily calm with an oppressive silence.

Maybe fast-traveling resets magical tracking spells?

As I raised Holy Celestia aloft to help me recast my demon-locating cheat, a massive wave of pure-black energy surged past my right temple with terrible force, shattering the magic circle behind me and reducing its platform to a mere smoldering hole in the ground.