As the sun rose in the sky, Yubi found himself behind Rik again. Orange dawn light filtered past red leaves on the branches surrounding them. It must be autumn, Yubi reasoned. He’d chosen a lighter outfit after the previous day’s heat: a thin, wide, tan tabard decorated with a pattern of wooden pins and chains. Under this were four tubes of cloth so that he wouldn’t have to look at his arms or legs. Rik’s outfit was the same as it had been the previous day: a white tabard embroidered with the hand from heaven and no sleeves. Yubi couldn’t see his face from behind, but he’d seemed annoyed when Toi assigned him to guide again.

  “Of all people,” Rik said, “shouldn’t you know the way to church?”

  “My past is still a bit foggy.”

  “What? Your history is… like fog?”

  “Never mind. Thank you for showing me the way.”

  “I was going to church anyway. I’ll be making a detour, though.”

  “Alright, lead the way.”

  He speaks rather bluntly. Rikshkindr… the librarian said names are related to social rank. Is he being rude? Yubi didn’t mind, but it seemed like something he may need to know.

  By the time they got out of the forest, the sun had risen high in the sky and the air had begun to warm. Before them was an enormous wall of stone, dirt, and wood. Roots stuck out at odd angles, appearing like they should be pushing the stones apart and toppling the whole structure. They didn’t, though, instead the plants seemed like an intentional feature.

  The pair approached a large gate in the wall. The door was open, with a pair of armored guards at either side. Yubi braced himself for some kind of interaction, but the guards took one look at them and let them through unimpeded. On the other side of the wall loomed the city.

  Stone-metal buildings surrounded them. Where Yubi had expected wood, plaster, or maybe the occasional brick, the outskirts of the city consisted of large metal supports filled in with simple flat stones. It all looked impractically heavy. Just moving the stones would be hard enough without needing to lift them up to the higher floors.

  Rik turned and walked along the wall instead of going deeper into the city.

  “This detour… where are we going exactly?”

  “My sister’s coming with us.”

  Hmm… so he has a sister who doesn't live in the fortress compound. I guess that makes sense… Actually, isn’t it weirder that we don’t live in the city? Aren’t these things usually designed with the king in the middle so that you have to invade your way through in order to get to him?

  The building they stopped at was nearly indistinguishable from the ones around it. The only identifying feature was a string of random looking letters and numbers next to the door.

  “Stay here.”

  “Should you really be telling me what to do?”

  “Right,” Rik sighed, “sooorry. If you want to wade through a bunch of little kids, you’re welcome to follow me.”

  Yubi didn’t follow him inside. Instead he worried. That guy’s gonna get himself killed with that attitude.

  It wasn’t long before Rik emerged with a little girl following him. She looked around eight or nine. Her hair was a light brown which didn’t match Rik’s white.

  Squatting down, “Hello Rik’s sister. I’m Yubi, what’s your name?”

  The girl looked up at Rik and then back at Yubi. “Shashnshi. Shah for short.”

  Standing back up, “Rik… Shah… seriously?”

  Rikshkindr’s eyes showed no patience. “What?”

  “Your names, it’s like… never mind.”

  On the way to church, both Yubi and Shah walked behind Rik.

  “So… your parents aren’t coming?”

  Shah swished her hand to gesture no. “Don’t have any.”

  “Oh, sorry to hear that. Um… that place you’re staying at…”

  “That’s Granny Poppo’s.”

  “Ah, I see,” answered Yubi, as though that answer clarified anything.

  “Say, aren’t you that guy who always sits at the front? Why are you with us?”

  “I don’t know the way so your brother is guiding me.”

  “Ehh? You know, you’re kinda weird, old guy.”

  “Shah,” chided Rik from the front, “that’s true but don’t say it. It’s rude.”

  You know it’s rude but you’ll agree anyway?

  As they approached the church itself, the stonework on the buildings around them gradually became more ornate. Eventually bits of wood started appearing on signs and decorative structures. Maybe if the buildings are that heavy you can’t use wood as supports?

  The church itself was a large, round building which stood a few feet from its nearest neighbor. Its door seemed larger than it needed to be. Inside, the trio climbed a stairway up to a large room containing many concentric rings of chairs arranged into a circular auditorium.

  After they took their seats, a man in white, red-trimmed clothes walked out. Yubi took him to be some sort of priest. What came out of his mouth was strangely unpriestly, though. It didn’t sound blasphemous, not that Yubi could remember what counted as orthodox. Instead, the oddity came from a seeming utter lack of religiosity in the sermon, if you could even call it that. The priest gave an account of how certain goods’ prices were changing, of recent legal cases, and of the ambassador who would arrive tomorrow. Isn’t this just the news?

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  When the news priest finished, a woman took his place.

  “Remember the face of God!” she said.

  In the blink of an eye, four marble statues appeared in the center of the room. They were arranged so that each part of the audience could see the front of the nearest one. Each statue looked about twice the height of the priestess.

  “This is Ya, the friend and ruler of your forefathers. It was by his hand that we cast off the shackles of barbarity. Remember his face so that you may know it when he returns.”

  Yubi looked up at the nearest statue. All four depicted a large man whose hair and beard had been tightly braided and then cut into a sort of rectangle shape. He wondered if there was some metaphorical significance to the hairstyle. They were each posed slightly differently, but the one nearest Yubi had its arms crossed and was looking over his head.

  “Now,” the priestess said, “come and make yourselves known.”

  This part Yubi had seen through the dream powder. He stood up and joined the forming line to the side of the seats. Those at the front looked up and spoke to the statues of Ya and then peeled off to be replaced by those behind them. Some speakers spoke loudly as though they addressed the whole room. Others put their hands around their mouths and whispered. To speak to statues so tall, though, the whispers wound up loud enough to eavesdrop.

  Each person addressed Ya and introduced themselves. After that, some asked for Ya’s assistance or forgiveness, some gave updates on how they and their family were doing, some promised to uphold his laws. Really anything that one may expect to find in a letter, one found in the messages to God.

  Yubi stepped forward and looked up at the statue. “Dear great Ya, this is Naiouyubi of Yaldabia. I believe you’ve heard from me before.”

  Some who recognized him chuckled at the understatement.

  “I regret to say that I haven’t been myself lately. I don’t recognize you the way that I should, but my memory’s affliction is healing. Along with that, I am doing my best to pursue justice and the truth. If you can spare any of your strength for me, I may need it today. When you return, I want to be able to say I did all I could do.”

  Those who laughed were shocked at Yubi’s last sentence. They whispered among themselves: “Did he just imply Ya will return in his lifetime?”

  Yubi didn’t hear their words, only the sound of whispering. Did I say something wrong?

  On the way back to the compound, Yubi and Rik made a detour in the forest to visit the mana fiber scanning station. In sharp contrast to the day before, the place was packed. A line extended out from one of the mound’s doors and a crowd flowed out of another.

  “What’s going on?” Rik asked someone in line.

  “The Leader has ordered that everyone in the fortress leave and not return until they have been scanned.”

  Yubi shrugged. “I guess we’ll have to be scanned before we return.”

  The pair got in line. As they waited, it quickly grew behind them. Rik evidently found the whole thing baffling.

  He turned to Yubi. “Does this have anything to do with what we did yesterday?”

  “In a sense, yes. You’ll find out later.”

  The impatient young man didn’t appreciate the vagueness, but he held his tongue.

  The line moved quickly. When it brought them into the mound, Kainolautis noticed and came over. He wore the dark green of the diagram operators’ uniform. The heat and the work had further darkened some spots with sweat.

  “Hello Yubi,” Kain said, grinning, “I told you this could be done in a day. Follow me, I have orders to scan you as soon as possible.”

  He recognized the uniform mainly from seeing Rio at the teleportation facility. Whenever he’d had to travel, his friend had made a point of seeing him off.

  It hadn’t always been that way, though. Before Rio became an operator, he’d wanted to become a priest. Unfortunately, his rank didn’t match the role and he didn’t take the slight of politics well.

  Yubi had found him just before it was too late. The weapon he’d knocked from Rio’s hand lay on the ground beside him.

  “Why would you do this?!”

  Rio avoided his gaze. “I’m just a dead weight anyway. Might as well make it official.”

  “Dead weight? Nonsense!” Yubi put out his hand. “We have enough priests. Let me convince you of your own worth!”

  Before long, a warzone had broken out with the demons. Yubi and Rio attended as soldiers. By then Yubi had trained as a diagramist and Rio had learnt the basics of combat.

  War, they discovered, treated the dead better than the living. The creatures they fought were like altered beasts. Demon bodies were only rarely man-shaped, opting more often for a haphazard noise of anatomical nonsense. And, when they broke through the defenses, they didn’t leave their enemies looking much better.

  Yubi had taken on a split role. When he found an injured soldier, he teleported them back to the healers. When he found only demons, he was to engage.

  He knelt beside a man unconscious in the mud. After stripping the soldier’s wood armor, he sent him back.

  Rio’s voice called out from behind him. “Yubi!”

  He turned around. He’d thought he’d killed the demon which injured the soldier, but it just barely stood. The loathsome thing was made mostly of blades, one of which it held up above him. Rio knocked him out of the way but couldn’t dodge the cut.

  Yubi saw red. On instinct he opened his warbook to a killing page. The next moment, the demon collapsed into cubes like a diced vegetable. Yubi dropped to his knees from the force of the mana drain.

  Blood covered his knees. Rio’s rib was showing.

  “No!”

  He teleported them both back to the healers, losing consciousness with the last of his mana.

  Yubi awoke in a chair in one of the mana fiber scanners.

  Kain addressed him. “Are you okay?”

  “Um… yes… I think. How long was I out?”

  “Not long. We scanned you while you were asleep.”

  “And?” Yubi asked apprehensively.

  “No spikes, you’re normal.”

  Relieved, “Good.”

  He got up and spotted Rik. “When you return to Toi, tell him I’m ready.”

  Yubi took a deep breath outside the door to the library. Alright, the halls haven’t been rearranged yet. Everything’s going according to plan so far.

  Entering, he found the place much livelier than it had been the last time he’d seen it. Head doctor Sailokyuzu sat at a table with what looked like a majority of the medical staff. Some of the short-haired apprentice healer girls were browsing the shelves. Rioshkaltis, who was accused of sabotage, sat in a chair against a wall, flanked on either side by armored guards. His wrists were bound with wooden shackles, though he looked strong enough to break them. Head diagramist Toinoioeo was reading a thick book perched on a lectern, his long eyebrows furrowed in concentration. Head general Goriyuyo stood leaning against a wall with his eyes closed and his arms crossed. Even king Aiyaloya was there, conversing idly with the Librarian.

  He took a seat. Now I just have to wait…

  Goriyuyo approached him. “Naiouyubi, what’s going on?”

  “You’ll see soon enough.” He sighed and looked up. I should make amends… “Gor, back when the previous head strategist was convicted- rather, back when you and I convicted him, you had a replacement for him in mind, yes?”

  Gor’s face darkened with irritation and a hint of offense. “I did.”

  “Where is he now?”

  “Conducting diplomacy in Alzabatya. What of it?”

  “If my position were to open up again, would you have another replacement in mind?”

  “Of course.” Confusion had joined the mix in the general’s eyes. “What are you implying?”

  “Nothing.”

  Gor gave him a look, clearly trying to parse his intentions. He didn’t say anything, though, merely returning to his wall and stroking his long beard in thought.

  After a longer wait, the door opened again. Rikshkindr’s eyes searched the room. Finding Yubi, he called out, “The scans are complete, no fibers were detected,” and then closed the door behind him.

  “Great,” Kyuzu said, “we need to get back to work.”

  Yubi stood up. “Not so fast. The scanning is complete, but we still have business here. You see, there is a demon in this room right now.”