Casper was having a bad day. This morning, he had gotten up before the crack of dawn to leave the city. His goal, the rare and exalted sunrise peony. Three hours of fighting off monsters and traversing thick brush had eventually paid off as he had located his prize just as the last vestiges of orange faded to blue. The sunrise peony was unique in that it could only be picked during sunrise, doing so at any other resulted in the prize wilting in the very hand that plucked it.

He carefully plucked it and wrapped an enchanted scroll around it to make a bouquet. The scroll was enchanted to preserve anything wrapped inside of it. It had cost a full quadral but it had been worth it. Pride filled his chest when he imagined the look on Vera’s face when she received this.

Gift in hand, Casper rushed back to the gates. This drew the attention of every predator in range but he didn’t care. Whenever one blocked his path a blade of wind would manifest from his hand and end the poor beast.

He passed through the southern gates without problem and blended into the crowd of worn out workers in dirty smocks on their morning commute to the industrial district. The children and the elderly gathered water at the fountains using crude clay jars and the younger women hung laundry on lines overhead.

When the crowd passed around the forum, he disentangled himself and turned north for the Imperial complex. There was a line at the gate for those who weren’t born in the nobility, he just got in the back, and settled in.

Getting in through security was simple enough. Between his recent rise to the citizenry and his father’s status in the senate, acquiring a pass took little effort. After checking in at the security checkpoint at the gate, he headed for the Imperial medical ward. It was a rectangular building that stuck out from it’s neighbor in that it was made in a much more pragmatic style. Simple stone blocks mortared into place gave it the appearance of a giant cube instead of a palace or basilica.

He stepped in through a side door and found himself in a brightly lit hallway. Enchanted globes of glass somehow made even the unbroken stone seem cheery. His heart started to thump quickly in his chest and his mouth went dry. Today was the day. He silently padded up to the door of the room he knew would hold the subject of his affections. Just before he was about to knock, a scream of agony came from the far side of the hall.

The flowers dropped from his hands as he ran towards the patient wing at the far end of the hall. More screaming followed the first, both male and female. It was impossible to tell more than that from where he was. The door swung open to reveal a scene out of a nightmare. Blood was splattered everywhere. It was on the floor, the walls, and there was some on the ceiling several meters above his head. His single semester of medical training told him that much blood splatter was only possible when a major artery was severed, which was usually fatal.

Every bed was full and a number of stretchers had been laid out on the floor. Harried nurses in blood soaked smocks attempted to save everyone they could. Casper stepped in and examined the wounds on a few nearby patients, whatever chopped them up had been sharp. clean slices ranging from five to ten centimeters were randomly located on the victim's person.

He started to look for faces he recognized. If someone he knew was in need, he needed to know. Most were artificers and legal scribes, which was an odd collection of individuals as they had an ongoing rivalry. Then he spotted Laura. Her once white uniform was now completely crimson except for a few spots. She was helping the nurses stitch the wounds on some of the patients closed. Lillian stood behind her, handing her tools from a table when asked.

Casper rushed over and pulled Lillian behind a curtain. As the curtain finished it’s sweep, Casper found himself knocked against the wall, stone dust falling on his clothes. A black boot landed on his chest and Lillian's face came into view as she leaned down to look him in the eye.

“Did your father never tell you to always ask permission before laying a hand upon a lady? You should go ask him where you went wrong. Right now!” she whispered dangerously.

Casper opened his mouth and tried to reply but it was hard with his head throbbing. “What happened?” He gibbered.

A dark shadow passed over Lillian's face before she replied. “They tried to summon the Adjudicator.”

“What?”

“They… Tried… To… Summon… The Adjudicator!” She enunciated.

“Wha… Why?” Casper asked, unable to wrap his mind around the words he was hearing.

Lillian leaned in closer. “The Emperor is preparing for war. Someone planted the idea in his head that if we summon his biggest nay-sayer early and recruit him, then all his problems will disappear. He ordered Laura to oversee the ritual but it failed. They didn’t summon the Sentinels Champion. They summoned the Sentinel itself, at least a piece of it.” She paused to let him process. Her expression was openly troubled, which was something Casper had never beheld.

“What happened next?” He asked.

“The Sentinel told us that the Emperor’s ploy had been for naught. The Adjudicator had indeed been summoned but not in a place under Imperial scrutiny.”

Silence. “How did so many come to be injured?”

“The spatial looms that were being used to unweave space and time, exploded. Shards of…space, reality, or something flew everywhere like shrapnel. Only the strongest were able to defend themselves.”

She squirmed in place for a second, torn between loyalties. “I need to go back to her highness. Her enemies might see this as a chance to strike and I have invested too much in her to let her fall now. As such, you need to spread the word. Make sure our mutual friends are on the lookout for our lost lamb. Good hunting!” With a flash of movement, she was gone.

Casper just sat against the wall trying, and failing, to figure out what was going on. Yesterday the world made sense. This morning the world made sense. He was going to finally tell Vera that he loved her, and his ‘mutual friends’ were making steady progress towards their goals. It was all supposed to work out. That was all ruined now. Casper’s dreams were burning to ash before his very eyes and he was just sitting here doing nothing! Enough moping Casper, get your great, big, bumbling head under control.

…

As Casper was slipping out of the medical ward, a door opened up in an empty hallway. A young girl, with hair dark as midnight, wiped the sleep from her face as she looked out. A gasp escaped her and she picked up the discarded flowers. She examined the gift, looking for some note or symbol to tell her who had given her the flowers. Nothing. “Who are you?”

Another scream escaped the patient ward, causing her to jump. She placed the flowers on her bed and left to investigate the commotion.