Far from the metal and stone halls of the Mystic Pheonix Academy, the Grand Cathedral pierced the sky. It was the heart of the nation's capital, a city of pristine white avenues and gleaming towers untouched by the soot and fear of the frontier. Here, power wasn't measured in the strength of your fists, but in the weight of your words.
And no one's words carried more weight than Cardinal Evangeline's.
Her office was at the very top of the Cathedral's central spire, a circular room with a massive stained-glass window depicting the World Dragon breathing life into the first Elites.
The air smelled of old books, beeswax, and faint, sweet incense.
Cardinal Evangeline sat behind a desk carved from a single piece of polished wood. She was an older woman, her face framed by silver hair, but her eyes were as sharp and clear as a winter morning. She calmly took a sip from a porcelain teacup as the door to her office opened.
Thump. Thump.
