A group of soldiers were tasked with reminding the servants and guards that they had better things to do than staring at a white, round object floating in the air. After shooing them away, they approached Rafael.
"Undo that thing and come with us. Lord Edwin is summoning you."
Rafael put out the fire and carefully folded the balloon before following the men with it in hand. Fuck yes! The Count and people are now on my side. With their support and siding, there's nothing the church can do. He was hopeful for a better future.
After walking for some time, they finally arrived at the room where Edwin was waiting for him. The door was opened for him, and as he stepped inside with a smile on his face, three people already there looked at him.
One was, of course, the lord of the castle, but he wasn't expecting to see one of the priests who had ordered his death just moments ago. The other person was someone he had never seen before but recognized instantly by his attire. It was an old man wearing a long brown robe with a yellow stripe.
The high priest of this city... and that coward who tried to kill me. What are they doing here? He realized that he was standing still in front of the door. He noticed the three pairs of eyes moving from his face to what he was holding. Only the nobleman maintained a neutral expression.
"So, this is the individual I've heard so much about. First, a strange device that always points in the same direction, and now... this." The old man stood up and slowly walked towards Rafael, sizing him up.
"Indeed, strange ideas. But these are ideas that move our world forward. For example, the aqueducts made by the Romans or the builders of this castle. That's ingenuity—thinking of new ways to use what we have to make our lives better."
"Hmph, it's up to me to decide what is good or bad for the people based on the Light bestowed upon us by the Father." He looked at Rafael and told him to place what he was holding on the ground.
"I was informed that this thing was floating. Why isn't it now?"
"Because I put out the fire. It's simply fabric, nothing else. Look." Rafael was about to grab the folded balloon when the old man ordered him to stop. "Don't touch it. Brother, please come here." The priest walked to his side.
"It looks like it's folded. Unfold it for me."
The priest, a man with streaks of white hair and wrinkles on his face and hands, looked back at the high priest with astonishment. "B-but High Priest..."
"Do as I say." He spoke calmly, but his tone was imperative.
I guess this high priest isn't going to take me as his apprentice, hehe... Rafael thought.
The priest hesitated for a second before getting down and carefully touching the fabric of the balloon. Seeing that there was no reaction, he quickly unfolded it and spread it on the floor.
He stood up with sweat on his face and began a quick prayer, asking for protection and for the Light to cleanse the evil he had supposedly absorbed from touching such a cursed object.
Your hands aren't going to fall off, dude... Rafael rolled his eyes.
The high priest watched everything and even stared at the priest beside him, trying to see if anything strange happened. "So, how did you create it?" The old man looked at Rafael only after asking the question. Edwin remained quiet all this time, only watching from the sidelines.
Rafael proceeded to tell a story about how one day he was trying to burn a piece of cloth on a candle, and it kept moving away from the fire.
"I found it intriguing—why is the fire pushing the cloth away from it? So, after many more experiments, I cut some cloth in the shape of a bowl and noticed it would float much better. In the end, I made a prototype, smaller than this one, that's still in my room. You can send someone to take it; it's under my bed."
Of course, that story was just an excuse to explain how he thought about the balloon. The three other men listened to him with great attention, and Edwin called a servant to fetch the prototype from Rafael's room/lab.
"Now tell me, what is the use of that?"
"I am currently studying it to understand why the fire makes it float, but that can wait because I had a great idea that may help us defend our city from the enemy. We can use it to scare them! We can paint it to draw their attention to one side and attack from the other! Imagine how many enemies we can strike down by doing that."
The high priest looked at him with squinted eyes, saying nothing. The room became silent until Edwin spoke. "He came to me one or two days ago and gave me the same idea. Now, seeing how... fantastic that 'balloon' is, I am certain that I made the right choice. If we manage to scare the enemy away or at least lower their resolve and morale, it will be a success already."
The servant returned, holding a smaller version of the balloon. He was instructed to place a candle on the support and light it. After holding the "bag" open and away from the fire to avoid burning it, the balloon soon began to float.
"Father, you're the Light... we are creation..." The priest started praying again. They all watched the small balloon float higher and higher until it touched the ceiling, where it stayed.
"This is just a larger version of that," Rafael said, pointing to the one on the ground and the other on the ceiling.