Seeing Adam's genuine disappointment, the chieftain racked his brain for an answer one last time. With a sigh, he spoke: “There is one thing I just thought of, though it would be a long shot.”

Adam immediately perked up. “What is it?”

“Spirits do visit various cathedrals of the Church of Spirits. Perhaps you could see if a priest or bishop could beseech a spirit for you. Even then, that will only be if the spirit is willing to talk to you. Even as dragons, we do not have a method to directly summon or talk to spirits. They have to be the ones to come forward to us before we can talk to them. As close as we are to spirits, we are still far from them.”

Adam's eyes lit up. Unlike others, he could see spirits with his elemental sight! He could even take the initiative to talk to them! It appeared that other than priests or bishops, Adam was the only one in the world that could talk to spirits on his own initiative. But then, he thought of something: “I am more than willing to go and see if I can talk to a spirit at one of the cathedrals, only... is there a particular cathedral where it won't be a life spirit that I have to talk to?”

The chieftain shook his head: “The only spirits in control of the Church of Spirits are life spirits. You will not be able to avoid them if you wish to try and seek a different resolution than this war that they are brewing.”

Adam was a little chagrined at this. While it was in balance with the other types of spirit essence, Adam had a significant amount of death essence in his body. The life spirits would likely take quick note of this and be distrustful of Adam.

Adam thought to himself: 'Still, this is the best way. The spirits connected to the Church of Spirits have a direct link to the other life spirits that are conducting this war. Only through them can I hopefully change what is to come!”

Adam sighed. “Well, if there is no avoiding them, let's go for the big shots! I imagine the Church of Spirits have a place that they consider their heart where their most important people gather, including the most important spirits. Do you perhaps know where this is?”

The chieftain nodded: “It is in the capitol Holy Kingdom of Jorlund, Vilmar. Over the years, the Church of Spirits came to control the kingdom and became its ruler. This is their 'heart' where their holy pope resides. Only, I do not believe the pope would see you on your own. His high status makes him a little arrogant and your own status as a dragon will not guarantee an audience with him. I am not sure if any of the bishops there can beseech their so called high spirit that lives in their grand cathedral.”

Adam contemplated the chieftain's words for a moment. He then said: “Thank you. Before things get any worse, I will do my utmost to put a stop to this war!”

Adam then left with Evelyn. As he did so, the chieftain sighed. He thought to himself: 'I hope Adam doesn't become too adamant on stopping this war. If it cannot be stopped, I would rather have him and his lightning fighting on our side than to be fruitlessly trying to stop the war!'

After they had left the chieftain's residence, Evelyn started enthusiastically talking: “We have a plan now! Do you think it will be enough stop this war?”

“We can only hope and try. If we fail once, we will just have to try from a different direction! There is absolutely no need for this war.”

Evelyn beamed. She thought to herself: 'Finding a way to stop the war so that no one has to fight or die, this is what I want to do!'

It was unspoken, but both Adam and Evelyn had the assumption that she would be tagging along with Adam. To both of them, it only seemed natural. Together, they went to Evelyn's house to inform Samantha of their plans to leave.

Evelyn enthusiastically told her: “If we can stop the war, Heinrich and father can finally come home! We won't have to worry about them dying in the war!”

Samantha was happy to see Evelyn so enthusiastic after such a long time, only: “I think that's great! But, I fear that it won't be this easy to stop the war...”

Adam nodded his head: “One single talk won't be enough. I need to know the spirit's stance on the war and see if I can at least convince one spirit of how needless the war is.”

Adam then continued on a different line of thought. He turned to Evelyn and asked: “I haven't heard much about Heinrich, other than him joining the war. How have both he and your father been?”

Evelyn nodded: “They've both been alright for the most part. Heinrich is always trying to get into the middle of any wars that he is a part of. Ever since you disappeared, I think he has been trying everything he can to one up you in his mind! After all, you quickly killed that fire dragon before helping me kill the water dragon by the time he was done killing the wind dragon!”

Adam and Evelyn spent a day to get things together before actually heading out. No matter how fast either of them flew, it should still take at least two weeks to reach Vilmar. As they were leaving, Evelyn hugged Samantha: “Bye mom, we'll be back!”

Samantha smiled at her daughter: “Just be careful. Even if you aren't going out to join the war, the world is currently chaotic.”

Samantha turned to Adam and admonished him: “Protect her properly this time and come back as well!”

“Of course!”

Afterwards, Adam Dragon-formed and Evelyn go on his back. His flying speed was faster than hers. Reaching their destination earlier was better than later. There was no telling when someone they knew would die in the ensuing wars.

Adam's flying speed was truly impressive. It actually only took him ten days to reach Jorlund! Crossing over the border, there was a noticeable change in the atmosphere of the kingdom. It felt purer and both Adam and Evelyn felt invigorated. Jorlund wasn't very big, but none of the other kingdoms dared to try and take its land. Being so close to the heart of the Church of Spirits, there were few cults in the surrounding kingdoms. Instead, they had many cathedrals for the Church of Spirits! If any of the kingdoms dared to invade Jorlund, they would likely see a sizable portion of their citizens rise in revolt! Jorlund's security and peace of mind was assured.

Evelyn peered over Adam to the land below. Everywhere seemed to be rife with life and peace. She gently exclaimed: “This place seems nice, gentle and peaceful.”

Adam nodded his head as he sent to her: “I can already tell that the land is full of life essence. Either the Church of Spirits chose this place for the life essence contained in these lands, or they managed to condense all this life essence with their high spirit's help.”

Adam passed by a farming village while high overhead. Down below, it could be seen that the farm fields were extremely bountiful! The crops were larger and lusher than any others Adam had seen. Adam pushed further on toward the center of Jorlund. It was there that they would find Vilmar, the capitol of Jorlund and the pope's seat of power!

A few kilometers outside of Vilmar, Adam set down in a place where neither he nor Evelyn believed they would be spotted. They then walked the rest of the way to Vilmar. Instead of heading straight for the Cathedral, Evelyn and Adam stopped by an inn to drop off their gear.

Evelyn asked: “How are you planning to go about this?”

Adam answered: “First, we need to see when the cathedral is open. After that, I just have to enter the cathedral. As long as the spirit is within the range of my elemental sight, I won't need to get in contact with a bishop or the pope to speak with it!”

Simply asking the receptionist at the counter was enough to tell them when the cathedral was open. The receptionist enthusiastically said: “Oh, yes. The grand cathedral is one of the greatest attractions around! You can visit the mass chamber anywhere from mid morning, till the afternoon. The cathedral then closes until it holds mass in the evening. If you leave now, you can still visit before they close to get ready for mass!”

Adam and Evelyn shared a look. Adam then simply said: “Let's go.” and they went off in the direction of the grand cathedral.

They swiftly walked through the bustle of Vilmar, ignoring all the other attractions. It took them a while to reach it, but they arrived close to an hour before the cathedral would close. As they were approaching, Adam said to Evelyn: “Be ready for anything. The last life spirit I met told me it would try to kill me if we were to meet again while death essence still remained in my body. I am not certain to how the life spirit here will react to me.”

Evelyn nodded her head: “If worse comes to worse, we can always Dragon-form and escape! The Church of Spirits should not have any dragons that are directly subordinate to them.”

The grand cathedral was ornamented in tons of gold and gems, even on the outside! Walking in with a throng of tourists, Adam and Evelyn entered the mass chamber with little difficulties. While others quickly took note of Adam and Evelyn's exquisite apparel and unique looks, they didn't really stand out when the cathedral was a back drop.

Inside the mass chamber, rows and rows of benches were placed before a raised altar. Beautiful murals colored the walls with windowpanes made from gems! Truly, this place was the seat of the Church of Spirits' power where a majority of their wealth was gathered. Adam merely took a seat at one of the benches and Evelyn sat down by his side. Adam closed his eyes and sent his elemental sight out through the grand cathedral.

It did not take long for Adam to scour a majority of the cathedral. He was not interested in anything more than the form of a spirit. If it was not there, Adam moved on without paying attention to what else was there. As he worked through the cathedral, he encountered a spot where his elemental sight could not penetrate through the walls!

Adam thought back to the time where he came out from the death plane into a cathedral basement. The stones there were engraved with vast formations that prevented his elemental sight from penetrating through the stone.

'It must be something similar' Adam thought.

After a few fruitless attempts of trying to find an opening in the stone walls, Adam decided to search else where. Just as he went to move his elemental sight away, Adam noticed a fluctuation! Out from the sealed area, a spirit emerged! The spirit appeared vibrant and full of vigor. It seemed to be ponderously examining the area around it, as though it had sensed Adam's earlier attempts to penetrate through the sealed walls! Quickly, before it could go back into the area where his elemental sight could not penetrate, Adam sent out to it: “I need to speak to you!”

The spirit froze in shock. Adam quickly added in answers for the common questions spirits asked: “Yes, I can see and hear you! I can also speak to you!”

The spirit momentarily shuddered before replying to the general area: “Who are you? Where are you?”

Adam smiled. He had succeeded in the first part. Even if the spirit saw him now, Adam believed it would at least heavily question him before anything else.

Adam told it: “I am in the mass chamber. My name is Adam. I am a spiritualist. I have a few questions about the war between spirits and I hope to put a stop to the war before humanity has to once again suffer a near extinction!”

The spirit once more shuddered in surprise. Quickly, it flew in the direction of the mass chamber. Before it got close, it suddenly stopped. With anger in its voice it shouted out: “Are you trying to trick me?! Your one of those contemptible beings that use death essence!”

Even from its distance, the life spirit had sensed the concentrated death essence in Adam! Adam sighed as he quickly tried to placate the spirit: “I may not be as adept with using life essence, but I also equally practice wind, fire, water, and earth essence! They have been far more usable to me than death essence has! I am not a cultist who follows the death spirits, nor am I a member of the southern flock of dragons! I am instead a member of the northern flock!”

The spirit refuted: “You say that, but is there anyway to confirm your words!? You wretched humans love to lie, is there a single life spirit that could vouch for you?!”

“You are the second life spirit I have met. The other likely does not even remember me specifically.”

“Then I won't hear another word from you! I even have half a mind to throw the forces of the Church of Spirits at you!”

Adam started to panic a little. This was all quickly going in the wrong direction. “Please, this world has shown that both life and death can exist in harmony. Why do you spirits have to fight!? I want to help stop this before too many lives are needlessly wasted!”

The light spirit scoffed: “The lives of you human's do not matter! Your only use is your help in waging war against the plane of death! Nothing else matters! Now leave before I do set the forces of the Church of Spirits upon you! You may be a dragon and strong enough to cause severe loss to the church, but I do not doubt that they could kill you!”

Adam stood up from where he sat. With a disgruntled look, Adam left with a startled Evelyn in tow. She inquired: “How did it go?”

Adam shook his head: “Not well. If that spirit's view matches what most spirits believe, they care little for the lives of humans. It even said our only use was in our capacity to help them wage war on the plane of death!... If this view truly represents the view of most spirits, their differences may be irreconcilable as they do not fear the consequences of the war!”

With a firm look, Evelyn said: “This surely cannot be all that we can do. There must be another way to stop the war.”

Adam nodded his head: “Let's head back to the inn for now and figure out what's next from there.”