Serene Isles
House of Tempest—Floating Cathedral.
As exquisite as the name was, the real structure was even more gorgeous.
Stretching over tens of miles, the Grand Cathedral stood at the heart of Serene Isles. Made up entirely of ocean blue crystals, the arcs of the edifice were drawn elegantly—creating a construct that looked like a piece of the iceberg itself sketching over land.
Under the golden sun, the tall blue spire at the top glowed brilliantly, overshadowing the light of the sun, and enveloping the entire Serene Isles in an oceanic blue hue.
In one of the many single rooms designated for Captain-level guardians of light, Caroline came out of the bathroom with wet black hair, a towel wrapped around her sinful body with curves that could make any person regardless of gender, freeze on the spot.
As she was about to dress more appropriately, she heard a chime.
Tink! Tink! Tink!
The ring came from a pendant—that had a small silver compass attached to it, lying on her bed.
The needle of the compass was rotating at high speeds creating a ringing sound!
Chimes back-to-back only meant that all Captains were called and an important instruction was to be given by the Council of Bishops.
Her expression hardened. After all, it was unusual to call all Captains unless there was another outbreak or an important event about to happen in the supernatural world.
Caroline didn't waste time and got dressed quickly and efficiently. After tugging her hair in an elegant ponytail, she straightened the collars of her overcoat, wore the pendant around her neck, displaying the small silver compass, and stepped out of her room.
She followed the blue corridors and came upon a wide doorway. Many priests and nuns—both Ascendants and Non-Ascendants, were running back and forth, in a hurry.
Ignoring most of them, her gaze traveled to the sign above the doorway that said: The Subspace Teleportation Channel!
Except for Caroline, no other Captain lived in the Floating Cathedral. They all had their own families and stayed in Stormwatch.
However, the Tempest Church wasn't to be trifled with when it came to supernatural knowledge and methods. In fact, no church could be looked down upon in the entire world!
The Subspace Teleportation Channel worked on the principles of Subspace and overlapped them with Reality. Just like how Faneia could teleport through her own means by "communicating" with Subspace, it could be replicated by the church by artificially making a "connection" with Subspace and opening a wormhole of sorts.
STCs connected the House of Tempest(Floating Cathedral) to the Tempest Cathedrals in the Stormwatch. For a Captain to come to the Floating Cathedral, all they had to do was rush to the runic circle in the Cathedral closest to them.
Caroline briefly looked at the twelve arcane runic circles in the hall. Eleven of them glowed briefly, and eleven figures appeared one by one. As for the twelfth, it was meant for Caroline's usage, but she was already in the Floating Cathedral.
The twelve captains looked at each and nodded with a solemn look. Most of them appeared to be in middle age. In fact, Caroline was the youngest Captain in the history of the House of Tempest.
To become a captain, one had to prove it with strength and loyalty to the Goddess. But without strength, no matter how much loyalty one had, one would never be able to advance ranks.
As for Caroline, she topped the charts on both grounds. Some were even wondering whether she'd be able to become the seventh Bishop of the Council of Bishops or not. Which was a terrifying feat in itself, after all, there has never been more than six Bishops in the history of the House of Tempest.
The twelve captains walked together with hurried steps with Caroline at the end—her mind drifting into a world of her own as she pursed her lips.
Soon they arrived at another hall with a round table in the center. It was designed like a meeting room.
Looking at Bishop Julian, seated at the head, slowly chewing on dried fish chips, the expression on the faces of Captains relaxed a little.
It meant, although the situation was urgent, it wasn't dire, and this meeting was called for the purpose of discussion.
The captains took their seats one by one after bowing respectfully to the robust man seated at the head.
Abruptly, Bishop Julian clapped his hands, and the priests of Tempest entered the hall with dossiers in their hands. Quickly, they put one dossier in front of each Captain and left the hall.
The captains were confused and waited for Bishop Julian to continue rather than going through the documents on their own. It would be disrespectful if they did so.
Bishop Julian brushed his hands together to shake off the grime. Almost all of them were familiar with Bishop Julian, as such, they weren't surprised by his casualness.
"Cough!" Bishop Julian gathered the eyes of captains on himself, "The council of Bishops passed the news of the last outbreak to Archbishop Aaron."
Bishop Julian eyed Caroline for a moment, "Considering the seriousness of the findings we made, Archbishop Aaron requested a divine revelation from Tempest herself."
"It took a while, but we have results."
Saying so, his face turned solemn.
"He is back."
"The Painter of Minds, The Artist of Desires—is back."
"He escaped death. And is in the process of revival or has already revived—that has yet to be confirmed."
Immediately the faces of eleven captains grew solemn. They were all old enough to know many details that others weren't privy to.
Looking at the youngest Captain, who had a confused expression, Bishop Julian continued, "Miss Akerse, you were born after the Epileptic Blizzard that threw the world into chaos. Apart from you, we have all faced that harrowing Catastrophe."
"From revelations, we have received in the past, He—The 'Painter of Minds' died, as a result of which, Epileptic Blizzard rocked the world."
"He has many names; you can go through the documents on your own."
"However, the most prominent one is the Ruler of SubconciousGulf—Gradoz!"