The road leading north from Brookfrid towards the capital was littered with small villages and farms. Jane explained how this was the heart of the human plains, the central provinces around the Cathedral. They belonged to five different countries with their kings answering directly to the Church. That made it finally click for me. The human countries were more of an empire or a federation under the central government of the Crimson Church than totally separate kingdoms. That was why somewhat low ranks in the Church were equal to the rulers of countries.

Jane explained there was a Council of Clerics deciding on the general laws, for example taking control of thaumaturgy or reporting any nodes to the Church. The Knights were their enforcers as well as local governors in the Cathedral’s sphere of influence. Apparently, there were several towns with four-digit populations all around it to produce any necessities. They were even using lamps of growth for their food supplies. It seemed like the Church truly made proper use of its resources.

It took us most of a week to reach the capital of Eterios. It was called the same as the country so everyone just referred to it as ‘the capital’. The same was true for the other four human countries. Everyone agreed that ‘capital’ referred to the country you were currently in.

The city itself was sprawling well out of its walls. The outskirts looked almost like small towns and villages of their own connected naturally as the fields were taken over by buildings. From an initial guess, it likely had a population in the mid-five digits. A little over twice the size of Brookfrid.

The capital was dominated by a pompous palace near the city centre sharing a plaza with a huge Church-building. This time, there were no additional compartments on top of the church roof. The area around the two places was instead walled in and separated with only the main road leading straight between them open for civilians. A main road that cut the city into two with its separate walls from west to east. Still, it was very well used. The bustle reminded me of modern cities from earth with a huge market selling nearly everything one could think of.

I dropped back down to the cart and rejoined my friends. Cerberos had taken over the driving for the time being with Circe and Jane chatting away on the back. We could have used a carriage but decided to be a little frugal. We still had a cover of oiled leather to protect us from rain and a few pelts to make the benches more comfortable. The deciding factor had been that any carriages up for rent would have come with a coach. Who had to be paid for the journey both ways. With the cart, we could take our time without worrying about that and sell it if we did not need it anymore.

“What did you see?”, Circe asked as I landed next to her.

“Lots and lots of people. The castle is pretty and the church is right next to it.”

“Ooh, the king's castle! I wanna see it!”

“We’ll be checking in on the Church so you can take a look from afar. I don’t think we’ll be able to enter, though. I don’t even want to. Nobles are annoying.”

Circe tilted her head.

“But Lord Ekos was fine?”

“Most nobles are annoying. Lord Ekos just didn’t care to show it.”

“But he let us sleep in the castle! And the beds were so comfy! And the breakfast!”

“Girls, we’re coming up on the gate”, Cerberos called from the front.

“Thanks!”, I called out.

The other two continued bickering for the twenty minutes it took us to get admitted into the city proper. The check itself went rather quickly. We got some raised eyebrows at my and Circe’s status but a few words from Jane quickly settled any questions. The guards did end up sending a runner to the Church, though.

We drove along the outer district looking for any decent in but I was honestly not impressed. The prices were clearly aimed at common people and the quality suffered for it. Stinky dining rooms, dirty walls, rough clientele, the whole package. We decided to go into the inner district, which was in fact the middle ring. There was another wall to cut off the high-roller mansions for both nobles and rich merchants called the central district. And then the final separation cutting off the palace and Church. The only way for commoners to get there was through the main road.

The inner district was quite a bit fancier. There were merchant and crafting guilds with large workshops and trade houses lining the large streets and smaller well-cared-for buildings in between. We ended up at an inn called ‘Rising Sun’ with fancy yellow and white paint on its walls. The interior was still simple but at least it was clean and the beds even had wool mattresses. It was a little bit on the expensive side but I could easily foot the bill.

After a bit of rest, Jane told us she had to go to the church and inform them of our arrival. I had to come along as well, apparently and Circe wanted to see it too. Cerberos decided he did not want to be left behind so we ended up going with our full party.

It took almost an hour to make it there through the bustle of the main street but eventually, we arrived at the palace district and church district. Both terms were used for the respective half-circles of wall holding the two buildings and had eventually ended up becoming interchangeable.

Circe stared open-mouthed at the sight of the buildings. To our left, the palace rose with a myriad of spires and towers all around a large central block with several wings going out to the sides and back. The largest reached almost 100 metres into the sky. The gardens around it were invisible from the ground but I remembered the meticulous greenery seen from the sky.

To our right stood the church. The building was even more impressive, in my eyes. It was maybe a few metres short of the highest palace tower but the builders had managed to pull it up to that height for an almost 200-metre wide front. It stretched back thrice that far receding into a point. The walls were lined with the colourful windows I had seen in Brrokfrid already. The front wall was covered in a mosaic of pillars in the most absurd feat of construction I had ever seen. Slim and fat, round and pointed, curved and straight, diagonal, vertical and horizontal. Every possible position and shape was used in all kinds of varying sizes. The occasional gap had a glass window or a vis lantern and I could only imagine what it would look like at night.

A few metres beyond the tip stood a towering hulk of wood very similar to the Eiffel tower. The cross of the church was placed on the tip, though there was a distinct change to it. It had six arms. The normal four as depicted in two dimensions and two more reaching out the front and back. I spotted colourful glass orbs at the end of each tip in a familiar set of colours. Red, blue, yellow, green, black and white. The colours of the six primal aspects. Ignis, aqua, aer, terra, perditio and ordo. And even from this distance, I could spot the distinct energy of a node in the centre of it all. A pure auram node.

“Fancy, isn’t it?” Jane smirked.

I nodded.

“So the cross stands for the six primals?”

“Yup. You can’t really do that easily on a flat surface but once you know, you know.”

“You could just use a six-pronged star?”, I suggested.

“What?”

“That would work in two dimensions.”

“Oh. Yes, but the Church is all about searching for Truth. And it is hidden much better than the meaning of our symbol. There’s another reason for this particular arrangement as well but you’ll see that in the Cathedral.”

“Sounds interesting…”

“… so biiig!”, Circe said.

“That’s what she said”, Cerberos snorted.

Jane slapped the back of his head.

“Let’s go inside. Circe, you good?”

The girl snapped out of her trance and slapped her cheeks.

“Yes. I’m ready!”, she grinned.

The church had one large gate right in the centre. It still looked small on the ginormous building with its five metres but it let in the main stream of people. Every twenty metres or so was another door of three metres in height and one of those was where we were headed.

The small doors each had one member of the Church standing ready. They wore simple robes of purple with red lining and the telltale cross emblazoned on the chest. The one we were walking toward was busy talking to an elderly man but perked up when he noticed us. They quickly wrapped up and the clergy turned to us.

“Greetings, Commander!”, he saluted Jane, “What can I do for you?”

“Good afternoon, Priest. I am on a Knight errand, here to confirm with the Cleric.”

“Of course. Let me send a runner ahead. Please, enter.”

A boy no more than eight years old was waved over as we stepped through the door. The inside of the room was a true architectural wonder. The sheer size alone could easily compete with even the biggest churches on earth and even with the far apart walls, light was plenty.

Pillars littered the grand hall that stretched most of the way to the point of the building. There was a multitude of different designs keeping the ceiling up and they were mostly grouped by pattern around the outside. Each colour of the windows had one specific type of pillar in the area it lit up. In between stood chaotic structures much like the front wall of the building. Everywhere along those, vis lanterns were set up.

My fully widened [Owl Senses] quickly noticed the underlying structure of vis relays transporting energy through everything. The bulk of it came from the back of the building, likely the node sat upon the wooden tower behind. Even though the room was wide open like a forest without leaves and full of people, the noise was heavily reduced compared to outside. The source were several paving stones all across the floor, built into fancy mosaics. A quick scan of the aspects told a simple story. They were acting on sensus and aer to reduce noise and likely weaken the echo as well.

Only after we had taken a few steps into the building, Jane pulling Circe along by her shirt, did I finally see the centrepiece of the church. About two-thirds into the building’s length right in the middle sat a large round table similar to an altar. It was split into six sections covered in cloth in the colours of the primal aspects. Each of them had a bowl with an object representing the element in question standing on top. There were burning coals, clear water, a pile of soil, colourful feathers stuck into a silk pillow, a set of three bricks bound by mortar and a rusted sword.

Just a few steps behind the primal altar, as I later learned its name, stood what could only be the Crimson Cleric of Eterios. Man or woman was impossible to tell under the robe. It was stitched together from two pieces of cloth, black below, and red on top. The front and back showed the Church’s cross and his face was covered by a blackened mask, likely made from metal. On his hip, I could openly see two wands, one made from greatwood and gold, the other from silverwood and thaumium. There was a pouch next to them as well. And most importantly, the Cleric was talking to someone.

A figure clad in stylish leather robes covering all of her body. I barely ever registered the other woman standing next to her and looking slightly out of place. Or the guard a few metres to the side. Because I would recognize this essence anywhere.

I rushed forwards on my wings, even overtaking the runner that was supposed to inform of our arrival. The Cleric reacted shortly after the covered-up person. She turned around and spread her arms. I could see the smile in her posture even though her face was covered by a mask. An outstretched arm made for the perfect landing spot and my talons easily held onto the sturdy metal beneath the leather.

“Hello Alex!”, I said through my arcane speaker.

The tendril of consciousness that was looking for me retreated in shock.

“You can speak!”, my friend near-shouted.

Then she pulled me in for a hug.