The Church of the Risen Son

An older man in back robes with a red cloak wearing golden jewelry sat in a comfortable chair with a small cup of coffee by his side. He placed a large leather-bound book to the side and asked, "You are a soldier from Archbishop Josciox's tenth Inquisition Brigade, tell me, what news do you have of his army?"

The young soldier took out a small cloth sack covered in bloodstains, he cleared his throat and tried to speak respectfully, "Your eminence, I was in one of the reserve units of the army, we had just spent the night in a small town in the heathen empire and were marching to the next city when a giant ship in the sky appeared in front of us. It looked like it was a part whale, part sailing ship. It was high up in the sky, even still it was easy to see just how large it was because we could see men on the deck manning its sails. It sounded a massive war horn, the loudest I had ever heard, and then it looked like a cloud formed underneath of it and then came down what looked like rain." He opened the bloodstained sack and poured out a dozen dirty ball bearings, "This was what the rain actually was.."

The older man reached out his hand and took possession of the ball bearings and asked, "How many were killed by this rain of metal?"

"Nearly the entire army, there were maybe a couple of thousand left alive out of the half-million man army. My corporal had the ten of us take the reserve horses and break for Annundil to come to find anyone we could from the Church to report the loss."

The older man sighed and rubbed his forehead, "The Lord favors you. He saved you and your brother's lives so that you could bring us the word." The old man took the hand of the young soldier and kneeled down with him, "Dear Lord, our savior Léon Jean Reno, thank you for blessing this man and his brothers and bringing them home to warn us in our time of crisis.

Just as you gave your life to cast away the sins of man, so did Archbishop Josciox and his army give their lives against the skyship in the heathen empire. Please look after those men in the sky paradise and allow them to enjoy the peace and prosperity of the ever-living."

The older man got up, tears still welled in his eyes, "Young man, go speak with the knight commander here at the temple, tell him that the Cardinal has assigned you to a squire's training. The Lord has protected you and brought you back to us because he has greater things than being a mere soldier in mind for you."

The young soldier got up with his held high and then bowed respectfully and walked quickly from the room.

A group of men wearing white, red, and black robes entered after the soldier had left, each taking a comfortable chair arranged in a circle. The older man spoke up, "It seems the story is the same from each of the men. They even brought proof in the form of these metal spheres."

One of the men in black robes looked sad, "We all have known for many years that something like this was going to happen. Our forefathers managed to destroy knowledge of the black powder at great cost, but even that is still alive in the far east."

One of the men in a red robe asked, "Cardinal Pujols, should we order a crusade to attack the heathen empire?"

The older man shook his head, "Archbishop Clarkson, I think that we need to ask our Lord Léon Jean Reno in our prayers. How do we fight back against an enemy that can kill an entire army of the church from the sky above? How do we send mere men to fight with those who have stolen a power that should only belong to the great gods?"

The oldest man in the room suddenly opened his eyes and said in a soft voice, "Cardinal Pujols, I was a young man when we were faced with this same situation when one of these inventors managed to use the black powder from the east to create something he called firearms. Cardinal Saint Warner at the time had us first come in peace and solidarity to this inventor and talk reason with him. We were able to persuade him that it was best for the world if his invention went away. We gave him profit and fame in exchange. You see to these men, it is the profit and fame which they chase." He took a breath and then added, "The hard part was dealing with the men seeking power that had bought his weapons. These Lords get addicted to the power of being able to expand their territory and kill without paying consequences. This was why we were forced to create the inquisition."

Cardinal Pujols nodded and then decided, "We should use our people to get information about the origin of the skyship first. We should deal with this from the ground up. If we just try to murder people without seeking to reason with them first, we are no different from the heathen that chooses to slaughter the innocent because they are strong."

One of the men in white raised his hand, "Cardinal, I received a report from the city of Connaissance some time ago, it was said that the new city lord there intended to revive the college, perhaps we should start there?"

Another of the men in white thought for a minute and then added, "I don't know if this relevant, as you know two Cardinals recently passed away in the Windsor Kingdom. We couldn't interest any of the older priests to accept the Cardinal position and had to appoint a young rural priest. That Priest went to meet with the new King, Andrew Windsor, grandson of the former Cardinal Augustus Windsor. He wrote to us asking that the entire Kingdom but excommunicated and the people all put to death because they told him the King was currently in the north dealing with the death of our Inquisition force and two of his own brigades. It was these losses that prompted us to send Archbishop Josciox into that empire in the first place."

Cardinal Pujols made a strange face, "Tell me more about the Windsor Kingdom's situation."

The man in white nodded and said, "The Windsor Kingdom was until very recently the problem child we had. Its king was the great master swordsmith, William Smith. William Smith became the King there, by fluke really. He was married to a Princess outside of the line of succession but during a fight for the throne between the brothers Julius and Liddel both managed to kill the other. The third brother wasn't able to have the throne because he was our Bishop in the Kingdom, Augustus Windsor. Augustus Windsor's son Augustus II, of course, had been their King. It was his death that caused the succession to happen in the first place. He had a child who was only a year old at that time, Cardinal Windsor suggested allowing him to run the country until Andrew Windsor was old enough to accept the throne. The brothers Julius and Liddel refused and cited Kingdom law as well as our own Church law to stop that."

Cardinal Pujols looked aghast, "Why wasn't I notified about all these matters? That Cardinal Windsor seems to be at the center of all of this nonsense. Tell me then, why do you suspect this is all related to the skyship?"

The man in white shifted in his chair, "William Smith had a daughter. She was born five years after Andrew. She is an extremely beautiful and intelligent young woman. I dare say she is a genius. This young woman should have been made Queen of the Windsor Kingdom, but King Andrew Windsor had her sign her Royal rights away and exiled her to be the city lord for the city of Connaissance."

Cardinal Pujols bowed his head and said a prayer, he looked up, "Once again, it seems our Church through that Cardinal Windsor has caused such a mess in the Windsor Kingdom. This young woman, She is now the city lord for the city of Connaissance, a city with a past connected to the rapid advancement of dangerous technology. A new dangerous advanced technology suddenly shows up in that very same area after she was conspired against by our Lord's Church." He picked up his coffee and tapped his foot on the ground, "I will go there in peace to meet with her, I will talk to her and see what her intentions are first. If this can be resolved peacefully with a public apology or even my death, I will gladly accept the responsibility, just as our Lord Léon Jean Reno once gave his life to save the souls of all of mankind."

All of the men in the room lowered their heads in prayer.

*****

Emily took a walk through the new residential area marveling and the magnificent new buildings. She leaned a bit on her cane and then noticed a small business on the corner, a smile lit up her face as she walked up and took a seat on one of the patio chairs. A familiar voice cried out, "Lady Connaissance! Shall I bring you the usual?" Mabel the waitress came from inside carrying a cup of tea she thought Emily would enjoy.

Emily smiled brightly, "Yes please, two of the blueberry scones."

A few moments later Mabel brought them out, "I haven't seen you in so long! What do you think of our new shop? Our business is much better in the new location. Although I do miss having you and the Captain around. Speaking of which, I haven't seen him in town for so long, is it true that you banished him to the lower villages?"

Emily shook her head, "Captain Alexander has just been working down there because we have been busy accepting foreign workers for all of the extra open jobs we have here in the city for all of our projects. Did you know, that for the first time in our city's history we have more jobs than we have people? Any person that can work, can get a job. Because of that, the poor from the Windsor Kingdom have been coming day and night. I suppose that the lower gate is much too busy for Captain Alexander to just leave it alone."

Mabel asked, "I have always wondered, are you dating him?"

Emily almost spit out her tea, she dabbed a cloth against her mouth and replied, "I have never really dated any man. None of them have ever really asked me aside from Sir Daniel Conners, but I have been turning him down since I was twelve. It's become something of a ritual way we communicate. He asks me, I come up with a way to embarrass him in return. Truthfully, I don't think I have ever met the man I could accept a date with or a wedding proposal."

Mabel nodded and then said, "Perhaps you don't like men. Or perhaps, you just haven't met the right one."

Emily thought of Teslaimia and smiled, "Nothing says I need a man in my life. I do quite well without one."

Captain Alexander walked up behind her and cleared his throat, "Lady Connaissance, may I have this seat?"

Emily waved her hand over at the empty chair, "Oh, Captain Alexander, what brings you up top?"

Captain Alexander looked at Mabel first and said, "Black Coffee and a plain scone please, Mabel." After she walked off, he turned to Emily and said, "I have been setting up a new recruit camp. We had to expand the army to protect the new dam project and police the villages that have started to pop up down there."

Emily kept looking at him as if seeing the hidden secrets in his soul. She said nothing at all just looked at him.

Captain Alexander sighed and then wiped the sweat off his forehead, "And I was avoiding you."

Emily titled her head slightly to the side, "Why would you need to avoid me?"

Captain Alexander turned red around his ears and his cheeks, he let out a breath loudly thinking for about twenty seconds, "You know, because of Teslaimia."

Emily scrunched up her brow and then asked, "What do you mean because of Teslaimia, she is my friend, it's normal for her to be at my residence."

Captain Alexander twiddled his thumbs looking more uncomfortable, "No I mean, you know, the closer relationship..."

Emily started to get an angry look on her face she looked back to see if she could see Mabel and then said in an angry whisper, "What fucking business is it of yours what my relationship to Teslaimia is? So what if it's closer than a normal friendship, it has nothing to do with you, Jon."

Captain Alexander suddenly went pale, he realized that two of them were talking about different things. He tried to think of the right words to say to try and salvage this conversation. Mabel walked up and handed him his coffee and scone, "Here you go Captain, it's good to see you back."

After Mabel walked away Emily was sitting straight up in her chair with her arms crossed under her chest glaring at him.

"Wait, lets back up, I think we are talking about different things. I just meant that I was interested in Teslaimia..." He raised his hand and motioned for her to calm down.

"Oh, so that makes it ok to criticize my choices? My relationships are for me to worry about, Jon. Just because you like a woman that doesn't mean you own her." Emily stood up and dropped a few Sprite on the table. "Enjoy your coffee, it's on me." Emily walked away her anger evident in her walk. Her cane clicked loudly against the ground.

Mabel came out a moment later watching the angry Emily walk away, she said to Captain Alexander, "I think she is mad at you. At least she cares enough to be mad at you, so maybe that's a good thing?"

Captain Alexander looked at Emily's disappearing form, "I think we just had two different conversations and I was wrong in both of them. Can that happen?"

Mabel smiled and asked, "What do you think they were, maybe I can help you with some womanly advice?"

He sighed, "I wanted to apologize for asking her friend out on a date while I thought she was still unconscious from that stuff a few months back."

Mabel looked a little shocked.

He added, "I think maybe she thought I was trying to out her for having a romantic relationship with a woman instead..."