Cheers and cries of joy rang out throughout the streets of the Capital. The parade saw most of the citizens in the capital trying to catch a glimpse of the golden-coated carriage. People climbed onto roofs and hung out windows just to have the chance to see inside the carriage at the holiest figure on the planet. Soldiers struggled to keep the crowd in order and not rush in front into the path of the carriage and its escort army of inquisitors.
Pope Samuel looked out the window, waving and smiling at the people who came. He had a grandfatherly demeanour with gentle eyes and a kind smile. Sat opposite him a man in his late twenties. He wore a veil over his face, but his platinum hair and emerald eyes gave a feeling of mysticism around him.
"I don't understand the people no matter how often I see this." The man spoke. His voice was angelic. His eyes looked at the commoners with confusion. Samuel turned to the young man and placed his hand on the man's leg.
"The lives of the majority are full of hardship and pain. What they need is a reason to justify the pain they suffer. Sol and the Church are this. When the people see me, and in turn when they see you in the future, it provides hope and reignites the faith within them. They see Sol's representative and they realise that the hardship they suffer now is truly a test to join Sol in his home."
Samuel's voice was soft. "It's a mysterious thing faith. How one can feel so strongly about it yet also at times curse its very existence?" Samuel looked at the man in front of him still with confused eyes. "Constance. I don't expect you to truly understand the common people right now. Unlike me, you were born into wealth. You will never truly know them unless you live like them." The young man's head dropped a little in shame.
"You have been locked up in that suffocating place and taught as per tradition. But as you have experienced on this journey, scripture isn't the only thing one must understand to be Pope. You know what I taught you."
Constance nodded his head. The reassurance from the old man in front of him always helped him. "Have you heard the rumours about the child King here? Some call him Sol's miracle and others say he's Khors incarnation. What is known however is the blood the boy spilt." Constance moved on the topic, bringing up Alfred.
"A boy born in a pitiful situation who had to adjust himself," Samuel said with sadness as the carriage passed the palace gates. "Yet if he truly is Sol's miracle will be for me to decide." The inquisitors came to a halt as a loud bang resounded throughout the entire courtyard, each soldier slamming their shield into the ground in sync.
Opening the door for Samuel he walked out slowly, being greeted by the zealous eyes of Raven. Giving a deep bow full of respect Raven walked over. "Sol's blessing to his Holiness. I am Arch-Bishop Raven. His Highness will meet you in the throne room."
Much different to the grandfatherly appearance he had shown before, his eyes were like a hawk analysing Raven in front of him. "Thank you Arch-Bishop. Please lead the way."
The throne room was quiet as tension built. Alfred sat, his appearance pristine, scared of making a mistake. William stood at his right, dressed equally immaculate in a black suit. The two waited for what felt like an eternity. The doors opening at the end of the hall stiffened the two.
"Introducing His Holiness the Pope Samuel V, his Holiness Constance, and His Holiness Arch-Bishop Raven." Alfred looked at the old man. He got up from his throne and walked down the steps, never taking his eyes off the man.
Unlike his frail appearance and the slow steps he took, the eyes of the man seemed full of life making one wonder why he had decided to take his last pilgrimage. A callousness that betrayed the man's reputation oozed off him. Yet the closer Alfred got he could see the warmness in his eyes. A gentleness that could not be faked.
'Of course, he couldn't just be a kind old man to sit as Pope for so long.' Alfred had to respect the man. He was able to switch between two complete opposites of the spectrums.
Much like Alfred, Samuel looked at the boy in front. The wisdom in his eyes was only found in learnt men, the posture of his walk and the arrogance it had and the smile of a young boy hiding something. The child was definitely strange to Samuel who couldn't understand how someone who was only twelve could be such a way.
"I greet His Holiness the Pope, forgive me for the lacklustre reception from the nobles of the Kingdom but they are currently required to stabilise the Kingdom. If you order it however I will hastily summon them."
"There is no need. I prefer the quietness in my old age. Banquet and the such are too much for my old bones now." The grandfatherly appearance came back as he spoke naturally. "But I must ask what happened for this to be the case?"
Stunned by the repeated switch-up of the man's demeanour, Alfred felt his lip twitch. It was too seamless. "I'm sure you must be hungry from such a long travel, these matters can be discussed over dinner. Please follow me."
Around the light buffet on the table William, Raven, Constance. Samuel and Alfred sat. It was an awkward silence between the five but quickly broken by Samuel who put down his cutlery and looked Alfred dead in the eyes. "You never answered my question."
Alfred stopped eating placing the cut of meat he had back on the plate and frowning. "You ask this your Holiness but you of all people should understand what happened. After all, before you became 'the Pious' you were ''the bloodied."
"A necessary sin to clean up the Church. And yet I pray for redemption every night because of it."
"Yet you did it. I simply did what I must to clean up the Kingdom. Believe me, if anyone is to understand why you took those actions it's me. I have been a sinner since birth, yet Sol in his grace and Kindness sought to give me two lives." Clapping his hands together, Alfred looked up to the sky.
"Yet you plan to marry a heathen with your second life. It makes me wonder if you truly follow the faith of Sol or are you a follower of Khors." Samuel's eyes squinted. His frail appearance was gone replaced by a strength built on pure faith. Constance looked at the old man worried.
"That is not the case your Holiness. I would say that marrying a heathen is not a sin in itself. Despite his son's rebellion, corrupting humanity, Sol couldn't bring himself to kill his beloved son. Splitting his son in half and sealing his power away he left him to forever watch the world and humans he tried to corrupt. If Sol had killed his son, then to marry a heathen would be a sin, yet his love overcame his rage."
Samuel looked at the boy. His words made sense and it was an argument spouted by the heretical branch of the church that formed 50 years previous. He was sure the boy couldn't have known about it, which meant it was his own belief. It was a fact he couldn't accept from a Kingdom so close to one which followed Khors.
"Forgive me 'Your Highness', but I fear for the Kingdom with teaching and thinking like this. You have already shown yourself to be someone who can take life without mercy and now you preach these heretical teachings to my face." Samuel stood up quickly followed by Constance, "I invoke order 18 of the church. You will arrive at the cathedral tomorrow at noon."
"Your Holiness. Forgive me but the boy is truly blessed by Sol. I watched as he rose from the dead. The knowledge he holds and..."
"SILENCE!" Samuel's words cut off Raven. He looked at the man with cold eyes. Raven, felt a lump in his throat as he silently sat back down. "I take your words into account Arch-Bishop, but if the boy is a follower of Khors then I cannot trust he has not used trickery or witchcraft to trick you and the other faithful." Samuel turned to Alfred who sat with a smile on his face. His unbothered appearance placed a seed of doubt in Samuel but he had already gone too far to back down. "If you fail to arrive at the Cathedral by noon, you shall be excommunicated and the full weight of the inquisition will fall on you like a sword."
Samuel turned his back slowly leaving, with Constance following behind. With a final glance at Alfred's smiling face, Constance felt his chest tighten as his eyes wavered ever so slightly.