The word to describe it's marvelous. Construction started in 1296 and continued with some pauses until 1903, when the bronze doors were finished. The biggest church in Firenze: The Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore. It's characteristic dome rises over the city. A symbol of Firenze.
A man was waiting near the entrance. Dressed in a dark yellow suit, he looked worried and had every reason in the world to be: Le Conseil des Pyrénées had sent him to the cathedral to reunite with some members of the Church.
A tall man with glasses approached him. He was wearing the clothes priests usually wear.
"Etienne Lambert?"
"Yes, that would be me."
"Follow me."
Etienne obeyed and quickly went inside the cathedral. The quality of the art inside was otherwordly, but he didn't have time to appreciate it. They stopped near the dome.
"Too many tourists are here. Do you want to speak here or would you like somewhere with some more secrecy?"
"Here would be fine, thank you."
"The link will arrive in a few minutes; please remain here."
The man with the glasses left Etienne, who started to appreciate the frescos painted on the dome. They were made between 1568 and 1579, but even today, they remain dazzling.
"Mister Lambert."
A man in his forties called his attention. At first glance, he looked like he was dressed like any other priest, but his robes were blue and white. Etienne turned back to face him.
"I am Benedetto Longo. I will be making the questions. This conversation is being recorded."
Benedetto went straight to the point; Etienne liked that, it meant that he could go from there as soon as he ended the interrogation.
"Go ahead."
"Is the Council involved in the incident that occurred on Via Umberto Maddalena today?"
"No, the Council lost influence on almost all of Italy, including Toscana, after the succession crisis last year. Technically, Firenze and the west coast of Italy are still under our jurisdiction, but we don't actually control them."
"A similar group, maybe? The Deutsche Hausgilde?"
"It could be, but I wouldn't be so sure about that."
"Why? Aren't the organizations there to regulate manasi activity, or is the corruption and infighting so great that they don't control their own territory anymore?"
Technically, this accusation was indeed true, but Etienne, as a representative of the Council of the Pyrenees, couldn't admit that.
"Look... father?"
"Knight."
"Knight? Not sir?"
"No, knight; however, it doesn't matter how you call me."
Etienne had a suspicion that he was dealing with an inquisitor, but this man announced that he was a knight. This was unexpected; he didn't have any knowledge about the knights that worked with the church.
Benedetto gave a weird impression. He was precise as a machine and made thoughtful questions, but in the tone of his voice, one could notice that he really didn't care about any of this.
"Knight Benedetto. Manasies of today have grown disappointed with the current organizations; independent groups have raised and the forbidden searches have restarted."
"Why haven't the organizations worked against this?"
Etienne gasped and remained silent, thinking about how to answer.
"Nothing in this world is eternal. Human states, countries, and empires raise and fall; why would the manasi be any different? The last Manasi war was the Conflict of the Lunar Stone in 1952. Since then, the current organizations have stood in place, bringing order, regulation, and taxes. We became the countries under the countries. If a manasi wanted, he could go and fight for their political country, but not for his magical one."
"What happened then? Why are they fighting on Firenze?"
"What I'm going to say isn't official, do you understand?"
"Yes."
"This was caused by an independent and unidentified group. But it doesn't matter. The nobles families don't want anything to do with the organizations; the common manasi chooses to hide before registering with an organization; and those who are in power feel how their foundations crumble. Distrust and tensions are rising. Whatever happens in Firenze could be the detonant of the next Manasi War. We in the Council are preparing for war, but we don't want war; we are going to abstain from relating to this incident, and we hope the rest of the manasies do the same."
"And what is your opinion?"
"The Old Order will fall, and a New Order will rise."
"What do you think the Church should do then? We can't involve ourselves in Manasi affairs, but we can also leave human lives to be helpless."
"Are you asking me, what would I do if I were in your position?"
"Yes."
"From a professional to a professional, I would find an unaffiliated manasi and make him do the dirty job for me; maybe one of those noble families in decadence."
"You can leave now."
Etienne quickly left. If what he said was true, Benedetto assumed he would probably try to get to South France as fast as possible since Italy was no man's land.
What happened today was a tragedy, but Benedetto knew that the Church couldn't do too much about it if any organization was willing to collaborate, as they had their hands busy on matters he couldn't reveal.
Maybe it was a one-time thing. There wouldn't be a problem then.
After some minutes to himself, Benedetto left to report to his superiors.
At six kilometers of distance. A man in gray robes sat down on top of the Observatory of Arcetri, whose full name was Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri.
"Soon we will be together."
He said, pointing to the sky with his hand. After that, he jumped to the ground.
Arcetri's surroundings are so less urbanized that Firenze's allowing him to pass unnoticed as long as he remained away from the city.
A woman passed by running at a speed impossible for a human being.
"Ebipu ikuku."
He said while doing a horizontal movement with his hand. The sound of air being cut immediately was detected by his ears.
The woman fell to the ground, and a nearby tree was torn in half.
"Dürtü."
In an instant, the man moved thirty meters to reach the place where the woman was. She was lying down, the left arm unrecognizable from some previous wound, and the right leg mutilated from the spell just cast. She was soon going to be dead.
"I am Masarabi Ihmanar, he who seeks the stars and the one who took your life."
The woman looked at him with anger. Masarabi put his hand over her breastbone.
"Zefir dashuyn."
Air was compressed around his hand in the form of a dagger, which he used to stab the woman under the neck. A minute later, she was dead.
"Twenty-five left."
Masarabi turned around and left.
"Ngome ya madini, inawafungia adui zangu!"
Four walls of stone surged from the ground, and a fifth one appeared on top of them, effectively trapping him in a box.
"WAS SHE ALIVE!?"
"Ardhi nilinde na niache nisogee kama matope."
All the ground that the woman touched transformed into mud, making her able to slide through it like a snake.
The fight against Anzolo had left her wounded and without enough mana to attack strongly; now she was almost dead because of Masarabi. Thankfully, Masarabi's elemental affinity was air, giving her an advantage.
She was able to move a hundred meters before Masarabi escaped the prison.
"Dürtü!"
Masarabi moved fifty meters. If he cast the spell again, he would reach her. Except for the fact that the time it took him to cast the spell, the woman would use it to set distance between them.
The woman had a constant medium speed, while Masarabi had a momentarily high speed.
They passed over a highway, almost crushing a truck. The driver saw them and took out his phone to make a video, but in the time it took him to do it, they just weren't there anymore. Confused, he kept driving.
"Dürtü!"
She was now at twenty meters from him. Dürtü was a spell that made Masarabi able to reach 327 kilometers per hour in a straight line for a distance equal to or less than fifty meters.
"Dürtü."
Masarabi was where he wanted to be; less than a second ago, the woman was exactly there, but now she wasn't. This disoriented Masarabi, but soon she saw her at five meters on his left. What she had done was rather simple; doing a sudden turn to scape an enemy who moved straight was something even a novice could think of; if she had the mana, the moment of doubt Masarabi had could have been used to make a counterattack. But she wasn't in that condition.
"Mızraklar havada uçuşuyor."
Masarabi wouldn't take any risks again. Invisible projectiles fell from the sky, bombarding the ground.
Every time they struck a tree, it split in half; whenever they struck a rock, it exploded into hundreds of pieces; however, when they reached the woman, they bounced on her back.
"The mud works as armor too!"
They kept the persecution going. The fact that she was alive was incomprehensible to Masarabi; she probably had a trick to cheat death because he had watched her lose at least two liters of blood, and at any moment she would run out of mana, moment he would kill her, definitely this time.
The noise of water alerted Masarabi. There was a river nearby, and the woman couldn't cross it because the water would nullify her spell. Nature had brought him victory!
"Your head; I demand it."
With that menace, he prepared for a new spell, raising his arm like a batter.
"Ai—!"
"WINGU LA VUMBI!!!"
A cloud of dust manifested itself into existence, covering the air in a radius of eighteen meters horizontally and seven vertically. Masarabi had to close his eyes to protect them. When the dust set in, the woman was nowhere to be seen.
It took him eight minutes to find the entrance to a cave behind a tiny hill. All this time, she was trying to get in there, so that must be her lair. It would be easy to go inside and kill her; after all, she was already half dead, but there could be traps inside or she maybe had something that made her replenish all of her mana; the risk was too high, and Masarabi didn't take risks.
He realized he was way too far from his territory, so he quickly began walking to return. He could use the dürtü, but he wanted to save mana in case he too became a victim of an ambush in the same way he attacked the woman.
That woman should be dead. She did something to save herself, but I don't understand what she could have done. It would be problematic if the other manasies are able to do similar things. The best thing to do would be to kill them from afar, but I don't know who they are, only that the majority are in Firenze and the surroundings. Do I have any spell that makes me able to target such a large area? Yes, I have, but it requires five days of preparation and very specific conditions. I need to do it and remain hidden at the same time. This spell would kill everyone in the city except for me. Is it a price too high to pay? No, it isn't; there isn't anything I wouldn't do to see what I want to see. Their deaths are required. I demand their deaths.
The green hills of Arcetri had a brown line crossing over them, resulting from the mud created by the woman while escaping. Some curious people were taking photos of it near the highway. Masarabi felt annoyed by this. He wanted to reach the observatory as fast as he could, but to avoid the humans, he had to take a long turn; on the other hand, if he killed them, he could just walk over their bodies. Just a word and a movement of his hand would be enough.
Would it be a tragedy if I kill them right here? Their lives are less than a speck of dust when compared to the earth's existence, and the earth itself is a speck of dust compared to anything else in the universe. Would it be really important if I let myself get carried away for an instant?
At least eight people were there, sixty meters from him. He raised his arm.
Wait! I need to be unnoticed to do the spell I want to do; if I kill them right now, more people will come, and I would have to kill them too! It's counterproductive; in any case, they are going to die in five days. I just need to control myself now.