Michael reached for her hand as they started to walk towards the cathedral. The streets were quiet like before with only the lampposts illuminating their way. Some buildings with stalls were still open, having small lanterns presenting their product.
He had to tug her hand away before she could catch interest and run his pockets dry again.
And before crossing for a while, they reached the front entrance of this breathtaking cathedral. Now that he was much closer to it, the place most likely measured seventy meters high. It had three tall arches, creating three wide halls held by large pillars, both leading into its own double doors. The entire place looked intricately sculpted.
Michael wondered how long it must have taken an architect to design from scratch. Everything else just seemed so bleak in comparison, it made him feel uneasy standing before this place. As he walked closer to the supposed entrance, he could notice the long streaks against the ground and minor scorches.
It was like a battle had previously taken place.
Why would anyone start a fight in front of something so holy, he asked himself, did the people in this town also find this place uncomfortable?
But to his obvious disappointment, the vast cathedral was closed. There was no light coming from the inside nor the outside.
Evelyn was the first to reach the middle double doors, letting go of his hand, and letting her own curiosity get the best of her.
Michael shortly followed behind her. He wasn't sure if there was some written law of trespassing during the closing hours but it felt already too late. She was already knocking on the thick wooden doors. There was no answer, to their astounding surprise, and with only the quiet night in return.
She frowned and looked back at him. "It's closed."
"Yeah, I found that out too."
She turned again and felt along the cold stone walls of the arch, running her fingers down the ridges and design. Michael refrained from doing the same thing. Instead, he was being enveloped in his own thoughts.
It felt a little too easy for the both of them to get so close without any problem. This morning when Michael's party reached Alaris and stopped near the cathedral, the place was swarming with people and guards. Why did it feel so empty at night? How come they were the only ones here in a town of thousands of lives?
Something felt wrong to him and he was beginning to tie it to whatever was inside this cathedral.
His thoughts were cut short. An argument between two voices coming from behind them. He quickly grabbed Evelyn by her hand and hid behind one of the stone pillars. Luckily, to their small bodies, there was just barely enough room to squeeze into.
"How many times have you done this now?" the voice came closer to the doors. "Nobody wants to deal with you anymore, is that why you're so sad?"
Michael couldn't recognize the voice but he could tell it was a woman. Was this another adventurer? He would have an easier time trying to remember everyone back at that nest if it wasn't for Evelyn squirming with his shoulder.
"Stop that," he whispered to her. "What are you doing?"
"You have more room than me," she squirmed around more. "Scoot over a little."
"Why don't you just turn into a sword? Wouldn't that be easier?"
"Weren't you the one that asked me to help on this quest?" she opened her mouth like she was offended. "What a liar you are, Michael Velo."
He smacked his lips, and instead of standing beside her, he quietly moved his body in front. At least this way, none of them had to squeeze over for room. Though this didn't really make it any easier though.
She grinned, her golden eyes glowing with impish ideas that he already knew. Why did she have to be so difficult?
"Is this helping anybody?" the woman continued. "You come here almost every morning, every night, and we all wonder if you really lost your mind. You know that if you're stuck on this quest, then we all are as well—"
"I don't care about any of you anymore." the other voice responded.
It was Luca, as Michael presumed. That deep tone of voice was easy to pinpoint enough. Did this woman find Luca for them? Maybe it was that Veronica adventurer that Michael saw back at the nest. Now hearing her voice again, it sounded more obvious.
"Listen," Veronica slurred her words. "I'll speak real slow for you in case you're drunk. Come back and talk with us like an adult, not like a pouty child—"
"If I were you, I would choose my words very carefully."
Michael resisted the temptation to sneak a peek at them. As for right now, he was trying to avoid Evelyn's eyes.
Then a round of thundering knocks came from the wooden doors. If there was anyone inside, they would have definitely heard it.
"What are you doing?" Veronica laughed. "Did you finally go senile?"
"Leave me."
"If I leave you, then who knows what other atrocities you might cause—"
"I'll give you the count of three."
"Great, you know how to count numbers, could you pull up your pants and come back with me?"
"Three."
"Oh, you're counting!" Veronica clapped obnoxiously. "The man knows how to count!"
"Two."
"Yes, the number two comes before three."
"One."
"Zero!"
"Achoo!"
Michael froze as his eyes widened. That sneeze didn't come from either of them. It came from the person right in front of him.
"Oops," Evelyn quietly sniffled, wiping her nose. "Sorry."
Michael thought his heart was dropping through his body. Did she just seriously apologize after that? When he turned his attention back from around the pillar, Luca and Veronica stopped talking. He couldn't tell if they were already running up to him.
"Whoever is there," Veronica called out, startling Michael. "Show yourself."
Michael grabbed Evelyn's hand in a panic, trying to turn her into a sword.
She still remained in her physical body, totally indifferent to what was happening.
"Evelyn!" he said as quietly as he could.
"Kiss me on the cheek."
"What—are you serious?!"
"Do you want me to turn into a sword or not?"
"Hello, hello?" Veronica called out again in a more stern tone. "Do we have ghosts haunting this place or what? I don't recall ghosts being able to catch a cold."
There was a strange flash of light that came from behind the pillar. Before any of them could speculate where that came from, a small boy with brown hair quickly came out. He had a leather strap slung over his body, carrying a singular sword on his back.
Veronica squinted her eyes. "Have I seen you before?"
Michael lowered his hands. "I'm…an adventurer. I met both of you with one of my party members."
"Oh, and what were you doing behind there? Were you spying on us?"
"I—" he gulped. "I didn't mean to…"
Luca released the grip on his sword. "Who are you?"
"He's the recent party that came for the quest." Veronica answered. "But look at that, it's gotten so bad that they're sending little kids as our help."
Luca contemplated on knocking on the wooden doors again. And without a word, he simply turned away and walked in the other direction.
"Come on, kid," Veronica gestured for Michael to follow. "Let's get you home. Didn't your parents tell you about scary monsters at night?"
Michael followed behind her. "My parents are dead."
"Is that why you became an adventurer?"
"No," he held his sling. "Not really."
"Well, other than that, you and your party got yourselves into a pretty pathetic mess as of now. Welcome to our failure."
Michael didn't know if she was directing that at Luca, steadily walking in front of them.
"I guess you can say we all got ourselves into this mess," she said. "Isn't that right, Luca?"
Luca kept walking. Even without showing his face, he spelled a lot of emotions through that silence.
Veronica sighed, studying the buildings around them. "I don't wanna spend the rest of my time as an adventurer here, you know, so save yourself the embarrassment and drop the tough-guy act and cooperate like a normal person. You won't get anywhere if you keep terrorizing the cathedral."
Luca still didn't show the slightest bit of a response. It was like the two behind him had completely disappeared.
"Are you just heart-broken, is that why?" she said clearly. "Having your girl leave would drive anyone mad—"
In less of a second, Luca unsheathed his sword and swung it mere inches away from Veronica's neck. Michael had even jumped a foot back at how quickly Luca had moved.
But for Veronica, she only tilted her head away, raising her hands in surrender.
"How rude," she said, slowly pushing away the blade. "Do you normally start all your conversations like this?"