Chapter 212: 212

The disciple returned the next day with the report Celios asked him to retrieve. He scanned the schedule of the empress’ activities for the last several days. His heart sank. Even though she had been incredibly busy, there didn’t appear to be anything he could use. The only thing that seemed slightly out of place was the number of time that she visited the Tower of Silence.

The Tower of Silence was a private structure of solitude in which only the empress could enter. No other living person had seen the interior or what it was that the empress did while she occupied it. Most thought that she simply used it as a temple for praying to the Goddess. After all, the empress was considered the descendant of the Goddess, so there was nothing strange in spending a large amount of her time praying.

Looking once more at the report, Celios noted that since the tenth day of the fifth month of the year 6193, the Empress stopped going to the Tower of Silence. There may not be anything strange about this fact, considering how busy her schedule was. She probably just needed time to rest. There was still nothing corrupt that Celios could draw from the schedule. He set the report down in frustration.

There was one last page included in the documents he was given. It was a report written by the Empress’ personal doctor. She had been ill the day she stopped going to the Tower. Again, there was no reason to find anything strange with this fact. He threw the papers across the room in anger.

What should I do, he asked himself when another voice entered his mind? It was the words Hemon had spoke. The number of god’s guardians coming to the temple and the number of leaves falling from the World Tree are the same every day! Celios sat up with a start, awareness striking him. The caretaker of the World Tree had said that the count only went wrong once.

Celios quickly checked the date that Hemon had said the error occurred with the schedule of the Empress. How could I have missed this, Celios thought in victory. He stood up with a new found excitement. He had discovered the evidence he needed.

***

Celios approached the door to Hemon’s chamber. Looking around to make sure that no one was in sight, he knocked at the portal. When there was no answer, he opened the door and entered. The room was a chaotic mess of pictures and books, most that Celios could not decipher the meanings of. Various scientific apparatus littered the floor. Hemon was definitely doing some in depth research.

Celios started sifting through the mess, searching for any document that would verify his thought. He opened a notebook that was sitting on the desk. Inside the cover was a hand-drawn picture that showed the entirety of the World Tree. In incredible detail, Hemon had recorded the branches that grew out in all directions, the leaves that changed with the light, the roots that jutted above the ground, even the texture of the bark. Each section of the tree had a thorough explanation scribbled next to it. He even went as far as to notate the taste of the soil around the tree. Celios shook his head. This Hemon was a strange individual.

Opening another notebook, Celios found a listing of numbers that corresponded to days of the calendar. Celios assumed that these were the figures of the falling leaves. This would be the information he was looking for. Finding the particular day in question was easy as Hemon had drawn a huge circle around it. Celios pocketed the notebook and left the chamber.

Celios returned to his office, after asking a novice to have the priest Cameron meet him there. Cameron entered, and bowed while addressing him formally. “You asked for me, Celios, Guardian of the Goddess?”

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“Yes. I have a favour to ask of you. Could you please fetch me the Book of Rest?”

“Of course. Why do you require it?” The book listed all of the people that became God’s guardians and it wasn’t often that Cameron was asked to provide it. Only Cameron, whose duty it was to maintain the book, and the High Priest had access to its contents.

“I feel like I haven’t been paying attention to those that have passed,” Celios said. “Since I’ll be doing a prayer cycle for the Empress, I felt that I should offer prayers for them as well,”

“That’s a good idea,” agreed Cameron. “Then, should I bring the Book of Rest from the other temples as well?”

“No. The Book of Rest from the Grand Temple should be sufficient. I’m not getting any younger.” Celios didn’t want to appear too eager.

“Ah, yes. It probably would be too much to pray for every soul of every temple,” Cameron agreed. Celios was glad that he didn’t push the topic any further. “I’ll bring it right away.”

“Thank you. And regarding that disciple that maintains the World Tree, Hemon. Please have him assigned to another temple as soon as possible. All the strange talk about the World Tree. I just don’t feel comfortable with him here.”

“He really is a good worker, despite his ridiculous notions about falling leaves,” Cameron argued.

“But what if something were to happen to the World Tree, with all his crazy experiments,” Celios countered.

“That’s true. I’ll make the arrangements.” With nothing left to discuss, Cameron turned and left the office.

Celios relaxed a little. Once Hemon was gone, only he knew the connection of the World Tree to the Empress. He didn’t need this professor revealing the knowledge before he was ready. This situation would be his alone to exploit.

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