“What do you mean you don’t know where he is?” Laura, the flower of the court, grand duchess of West Guard, greatest magical prodigy of her generation, and many more titles that only the imperial herald could know, was having a bad day. Seriously, do people need to know that I won a singing contest when I was four?

The palace messenger in front of her was shaking so bad that his teeth were chattering. Was she that scary. “Tthhee te-tests show that he is inside the city's limits. The guard is out on mass combing the streets for him.”

Her gaze turned from the messenger to the walls of her sitting room and out beyond them. All they knew about him was his name, age, and face. That was it. Months of investment and preparation felt like a waste now. Where could you possibly be Jack Hearth?

A sudden thought crossed her mind. She jerked her head back to the messenger to act on it. Before she could though, he gave a shriek when their eyes met and passed out in fright. Laura scowled in frustration. The previous three messengers

Also passed out or had a nervous breakdown. Useless!

“Lillian I have another one, tell the cleaning staff to deal with it.” She stood up and paced around the room irritably. More specifically this was her sitting room. It was an austere space with pale blue walls and wide windows. She liked the open ambiance. The one personal touch she had added to it was the window boxes filled with fragrant flowers.

A figure in a dark governess dress stepped out from a hidden alcove next to the hallway door. She opened the door and rang a bell that hung on the wall. This prompted three young women in uniform to scramble in skittishly, and as one they saw the passed-out messenger before teaming up to drag him out. It was so seamless that they had obviously done this a thousand times.

This just infuriated Laura all the more. Does this happen that often? Maybe I need to rethink how I interact with the help. With a sigh, she plopped back onto the sofa she had just gotten up from. She thought over her day and thought back to the moment when it had all gone terribly long

…

Laura was a very intense woman. As such, she had developed a reputation in certain circles. She also had very little privacy so the few things that were not publicly known were rigorously protected. One such thing was that she was a very deep sleeper. If this got out the assassins would stop conveniently offering themselves up to her throughout the day and actually become dangerous. It took a very determined mind to get her up, but her handmaiden was one such woman. Oh yes, she was very talented.

Splash! Laura was startled awake at the freezing, cold sensation that spread over her body. She cast about with inflamed eyes to the source of her discomfort. A quick examination of her surroundings revealed that she was soaked to the bone and Lilian standing above her with a beatific smile. In her hands was a mop bucket.

“Yyoouu bbbetter have cleaned that before you filled it, or there will be consequences.” She stammered.

Lillian inspected the bucket. “What this, it’s a cleaning bucket my lady it is for cleaning your floor.” At this, she put it down and picked up a much nicer enchanted water pitcher. “This is the bucket that I doused you with.” She explained with a smug grin on her face.

With a groan, Laura managed to pull her shivering body out of bed before casting a quick, Fire cantrip to dry off. Just like the evil woman. There is always a bait and switch with her. “That was not normal water or it wouldn’t have bothered me. Just what on earth did you do?”

“I acquired some ice essence from the imperial labs.” She placed both vessels down before grabbing an enchanted mop that was hidden under her bed. “A little bit of that and some ice water was enough to get past your defenses.”

“Does this mean something important is happening today?” By this point, she was behind her privacy screen and getting prepared for the day.

“The ritual is ready my lady. They are only an hour or so from the scheduled time.” She had the mop away and straightened the sheets on the now dry bed before going over towards the screen.

She stiffened mid-motion before toppling over awkwardly. She had forgotten the most important event in a decade and she forgot because she was too busy. What with her classes at the academy, her etiquette training, her role as a duchess and imperial scion. With a sigh, she grabbed the hand that Lillian offered her and got to her feet. She had work to do.

…

Half an hour later, and dressed in her most flattering dress, she arrived at the entrance of the ritual chamber. The grand chamber was a vast dome, easily a half-mile in diameter. Basalt with veins of white marble, speckled granite, dark green feldspar, and pure gold interwoven in a complicated pattern. The various rocks had been hewn and applied to the chamber meticulously to enhance the power of the various rituals performed here.

The first thing she noticed upon entering was the sheer number of people in the chamber. Must be close to a hundred-odd people here. Are we even going to fit them all safely in here when we start? Aside from the servants that were working or serving their superiors, there were several clusters of people in the room.

The first group she had noticed were the artificers, as they like to be called. Most everyone else just called them tinkers. They were an eclectic bunch. They all wore leather jerkins or vests that were each very unique to the individual. The tools hanging or secured to them were made from a dozen different metals and styles, and the light reflecting off of said tools reflected a rainbow of metallic shades from white to a dark blue.

Though their most defining features, in her opinion were their faces. Each had anywhere between half to three-quarters of a hairstyle, the rest having been burned or melted off. However, it was the eyes that gave it away. A fiery passion blazed in them. A desire to discover and to experiment. I wonder if they are more trouble than they are worth. She pondered silently.

They were set up on the outer perimeter near the new dimensional looms that are the lynchpin to the whole ritual. Without them, the power cost to do this the old fashion way would bankrupt the empire. It was then that she followed their gazes to the center of the room to another group of men. These men were a complete contrast to the artificers.

First off they were all much older with grey or white hair. Long solid color robes hung of their emaciated forms. Their most notable feature is the giant stick stuck up… you know, there. They were busy staring at the diagram carved into the floor and comparing it to the parchment in their hands.

This whole thing had been their idea from the get-go. One day master Gaius, the Royal Scribe brought a strange parchment to my father. It was a stack of rectangular papers bound in some kind of thick pulpy wood. The sheets were a pristine white and identical. That was only, what did he call it, book, yeah he called it a book. The contents outlined a grand ritual that would summon a being of myth, one that every noble imperial grew up hearing about as a dark figure that would come for them if they misbehaved. The Adjudicator!

My father was entranced by the potential of this book. He said that if the Adjudicator was going to appear when the upcoming war broke out, then we might as well summon him early and ‘convince’ him to join our side.

So here we are, hoping that we can somehow sidestep the Sentinels' final mandate forbidding us from going to war with the other nations. That we can suborn its instrument of judgment. To bring glory to the empire.

That the thought brought her eyes outside the diagram to the edges of the room. Scions from minor to middling noble houses that were attending the academy. They were here to witness history and bring the news back to their houses. She didn’t think all that much of them. The few that were able to keep their eyes open were whining to anyone who heard them, some variant on do you know who I am? Along with their family name, just how valuable their time was and what was with the hold up to any laborer or crafter that wandered in that direction. They disgusted her.

“Ahem!” Laura realized she had been caught staring and quickly turned to see the leaders of the three wayward factions behind her. Though her gaze quickly passed them as she spotted Lillian standing at the back, a smug grin on her face. She could have warned me. She lamented inwardly.

“I presume by the lack of activity that we are almost ready to begin.” She remarked imperiously, back straightening . An old lesson came to mind, control is about momentum. If you let them push you then it is that much harder to stay in control.

“We are just doing a final inspection on the ritual diagram, your highness.” One man, the eldest, retorted pompously. This was lord Gaius. Clad in a white robe his voice crackled like old parchment and he looked like it too. Sometimes it seemed like a good gust of wind would blow him apart.

“Indeed” warbled a smaller man to the side. “We are just testing the resonance of the spatial looms to the diagram. Everything has been well within the expected parameters in the official report.” The man attached to this voice was about as long as he was wide, reaching about chest height on most people. This was the royal artificer Gideon. She never liked this man, he was perpetually undressing every woman he saw with his gaze and used his height as an excuse for it.

A small shift of movement drew her eye to the last person she wanted to see right now. Though she didn’t need to look to know his profile. She had his features memorized. A long main of golden blonde hair framed a masculine face. A muscular frame that promised abrupt and overwhelming violence to anyone that crossed him, and oh did they remember to never cross him.

“Good morning, beautiful.” The man crooned to her in a powerful base. Though she preferred to call him degenerate she knew she couldn’t. Not to her fiancé.

“Hello, Cassius.” She replied smoothly, quickly bottling up all the emotions that raged inside her. Deal with it later, maybe with a straw dummy with his face on it, and lots of fire. “Are you representing the witnesses?” At this, she gestured behind him to the group of brats.

He winced at the association. “Unfortunately I was the most senior scion available at the time. So I am charged with witnessing and recording today’s events for posterity. They are representatives for their families.”

“Well let’s not keep them waiting,” she said. “It’s time to begin.”