“Hellig, wait up!”

  Adam stumbled after Hellig as he sped up his walking towards the glittering lake. The stars above seemed to swirl and shift as if they were alive. As Adam ran to catch up to Hellig, he took a closer look around him. The darkness of night seemed to permeate the entire Realm, but it wasn’t as dark as a night in the Physical World. Though there was no moon here, the mass of swirling stars up above provided plenty of light on the cloudless night. The trees were deciduous, and it felt like summer. The ground was slightly moist as if it had just rained before Adam arrived.

  “Hellig! Wait up!” Adam called out again, but in the process of getting his bearings, he had entirely lost sight of Hellig’s form.

  Shit, where did he go, and what was he talking about, a Cherubim? And I just got here, it wasn't anywhere close to a few minutes let alone hours...

  Adam proceeded towards the lake, whose shimmering form reflected the stars up above. Up close, it was almost as if the lake itself was a glowing pool of liquid, the way it reflected the light of the stars was closer to liquid light than actual water.

  “Hellig, where did you go?” Adam’s voice betrayed his anxiety in being alone in this Realm when he had just been with his friends mere moments ago. A slight breeze, as cold as the winter in Diell City, blew past Adam, causing him to shiver. He turned around and jumped in fright.

  The man standing there had thick silver hair and stood 1.9 meters tall with incredibly formal wear. In his hand was a cane made up of a deep black wood. The top of the cane had a silver wolf head, and etched silver linings that led down its length into the base that shined with a mercurial luster.

  “Mr. Juhend! Where did Hellig go? He was just here…”

  Juhend’s fog colored eyes didn’t leave Adam as he took a moment before answering.

  “I needed to talk to you alone. I apologize for using Hellig’s form to deceive you, but you did truly disappear on us. I needed time to make sure you were still you.”

  “What do you mean, still me? I’m confused, where did Hellig go, and what are you talking about me disappearing?”

  Juhend sighed before continuing.

  “Adam, you completed the ritual to Shift successfully. After you did so, the rest of us followed. At first, we couldn’t find you in the area, so I investigated.

  “You weren’t in the Realm during this time, of this I am certain. Wherever you were, neither I, nor the Cherubim here could find you. What happened to you, do you remember anything?”

  Juhend’s face didn’t change as he asked this, but his foggy eyes seemed to peer deep into Adam’s psyche, making him deeply uncomfortable.

  “Uh, I remember the Shift, but to me it was the same as any other… I mean, it was nearly instant like usual, there was ringing in my ears, I heard my blood pumping to my head, but that was about it, nothing was weird about it sir.”

  Juhend spent an uncomfortable time in silence staring at Adam.

  “Your stars aren’t right.”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “The rest of your task force is already at the bastion, we shall join them.”

  “Uh, right… Sir, may I ask what a Cherubim is, and what did you mean when you said that you used Hellig’s form just now?”

  Juhend slowly led Adam along to the other side of the glitteringly bright lake.

  “To answer your first question, a Cherubim is a direct creation of a Divinity. Whether that is a demigod, a Devil or an Angel, each Cherubim is a direct portion of that Divinity’s own soul that is given autonomy to pursue certain goals that would be inconvenient to engage in directly for the Divinity. They are considered to be Partial Divinities, similar to demigods, due to not being fully in tune with their home Realms, since only one being may be fully harmonized with any given Realm at once.”

  Juhend whipped out a cigarette from seemingly nowhere and took a dreg before continuing.

  “To be clear, the existence of a Cherubim is incredibly rare, as they require direct action of a Divinity to create. Their power is generally much greater than most Chosen, but less than that of a demigod. You have already met one such Cherubim, the Red Oni. I believe it saved you back in Diell City, yes?”

  “Uh, yes, sir. The thing with red skin that had possessed James?”

  “Correct. The Red Oni is the Cherubim of a demigod known as the Imperial Ruler Above the Sky. If you would like, I can give you a full lecture later. Suffice to say, it was notable that you encountered the being. This Realm also has a Cherubim assigned to protect it by the Many Winged Angel.”

  “Wait, the Many Winged Angel? This doesn’t look like its Realm, shouldn’t it be more… airy?”

  Juhend gave a hearty laugh and patted Adam on the shoulder.

  “When you get to the level of a Divinity, especially a True Divinity like the Many Winged Angel, you have interests in many different Realms. Even if a being can only harmonize with one, it doesn’t stop the Angel from having Cherubim overseeing various interests.”

  Adam went quiet after hearing that last bit. The pair walked for a couple of minutes, making it nearly halfway around the glimmering lake.

  “Mr. Juhend, you’re an expert in exorcism, right?”

  Juhend’s steps subconsciously slowed.

  “Technically, yes. But this is less to do with my powers and more to do with my own skill.”

  “What do you mean?”

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  Juhend’s fog colored eyes seemed to pierce straight through Adam as he continued.

  “This is my Realm. My powers are most easily expressed with the movement of the stars. I can divine futures, alter probabilities or interfere with the use of certain types of powers. By using my connection with this Realm, I am able to interfere with the link between a person who is possessed and the spirit possessing them. Thus, I am a powerful exorcist.”

  Juhend took a brief moment to allow this to sink into Adam’s mind before continuing.

  “My powers don’t actually give me power over spiritual possession or manipulation of psyches though, merely divination and sensory inputs. I simply have enough of an understanding of my powers to use them in creative ways.”

  Creative ways, huh…

  “Mr. Juhend, I visited a Realm recently where I think I encountered a Divinity, or something like it at least. Is it possible I have been partially possessed?”

  Juhend sighed deeply before patting Adam on the shoulder again.

  “No, Adam. At least, not in any way I can sense. Your emperor even blessed you himself during the ceremony he conducted. That was in no way a standard oath. His powers in the domain of exorcism are in no way inferior to mine, he may even exceed me in certain aspects. Neither of us detected any influence on your soul.”

  Adam fell silent again before knitting his eyebrows in curiosity.

  “Mr. Juhend, you speak about the Emperor as if he is a peer, we usually place emphasis on His title in our speech…”

  “We’re here.”

  Juhend stopped at the far end of the lake from where the pair originally met. It looked no different from the surroundings, but as Juhend took a step forward, Adam realized that he could no longer see Juhend, or even spiritually sense him!

  A half second later, Adam saw a hand seem to outstretch from nowhere and beckon him to walk forward.

  Adam obeyed after a brief hesitation, stepping forward. It felt like he was passing through a thin, slightly sticky film of energy. As he stepped to the other side, he was greeted with a large structure.

  It was five stories tall, made out of stone bricks and dark wooden logs. An even larger spire of gleaming copper wound its way up into the sky from the back portion of the structure, with a large post at the top that emitted light similar to that of the lake. In front of the structure was a large training ground, with targets, dummies, obstacles and even blunted weapons of various kinds. A small smithy was set off to one side, while a small stable was to the other. In the back, partially obscured by the building, Adam could see a rolling field of wheat ready to harvest, with strange wooden puppets working in the field.

  “Welcome, Adam, to my bastion. This is where I live, and where the headquarters of this newly formed task force will be based for at least the near term future.”

  Adam moved to speak, but Juhend waved him away with his hand.

  “Your friends are inside, as is the Emaciated Seraph, the Cherubim that serves as the guard of this Realm. Don’t let its appearance scare you.”

  With this, Juhend immediately disappeared out of sight, though Adam never looked away from him.

  Don’t let its appearance scare me? And Mr. Juhend treats the Emperor like a peer… Is he really a He?

  The door to the bastion opened as Adam was lost in thought. He saw a strikingly gorgeous woman there. Her blonde hair loosely fell down her back, and she was wearing a tightly fitting green dress laced with white silk. Adam almost couldn’t tell that she had suffered a debilitating injury during the festival.

  “About time you showed up. We were getting worried.”

  “Sorry, Hannah. I’m glad I made it.”

  …

  Somewhere cold with billowing snow.

  A massive wheeled car plowed through the snow. Armored plates of a steelish metal covered its frame. Its front had a large plow capable of digging through feet of snow. Without a frame of reference, it would be possible to mistake this vehicle for being as small as a horse drawn carriage, or a box car on a train. In truth, it was larger than an airship.

  Inside this mass of metal and engineering, a man sat. Vice Admiral Bruenor Flos was wearing his standard military garb, with medals adorning his steel blue navy suit. His 2 meter tall form fit slightly uncomfortably in the metal plated room he was in, and his blonde hair was somewhat disheveled, as if he had spent a long time awake.

  In front of him was a table with a parchment map on it. This map was adorned with numerous markings and metal figurines to symbolize troop deployments. To the walls, many similar maps were held up by pins, attached to the walls by the simple will of those inside the room to continue using them.

  “Vice Admiral Flos, are you certain that we need to be in this Realm? I mean, it doesn’t even have a Chosen, right?”

  The young navy officer opposite Bruenor spoke up. His hair, once well combed, was now disheveled. His steel blue suit, also adorned with metals, was slightly wrinkled after so long awake.

  “Yes, Captain. Unfortunately, our presence here is required. Due to the recent attack on the capital, the Emperor has taken special interest in the Chosen known as Hrime. We believe that she is working together with one or more Divinities.”

  Bruenor spread his hands on the map below him. Though at first sight it seemed to merely be a map of a snow covered expanse, upon closer inspection one would be able to see a large number of red Xs crossed in regular intervals leading out from the center of the parchment.

  “This Realm has no affiliation with Hrime, and we can never know if our intel is lacking. However-”

  Bruenor grabbed a metal figurine of a woman with a halberd and firmly placed it in the center of the map.

  “Thanks to Juhend Sureb, we are able to monitor her movements. She frequently comes to this Realm, as if looking for something. Our fleet has been assigned to make sure that she doesn’t find whatever it is she is searching for.”

  The young officer opposite Bruenor sighed.

  “Yes, Vice Admiral. But, what if this is a trap she has set up? We don’t even have our ships, this entire Realm is frozen over, and we have to use these dreadnoughts. Not to mention-”

  “I am well aware, Captain. However, these are the orders of the Emperor. Would you be willing to disobey Him whilst invalidating the concerns of the Many Winged Angel’s chief exorcist?”

  “... No, sir.”

  “Good. Then, ladies and gentlemen, I know we have been up for quite some time. Let’s get this final meeting started so we can get some beauty sleep, shall we?”