Grey squinted as the last of the glass fell from his eyes. He looked up to see some old man sitting on a throne. Or maybe it was a cathedra, as this place was very... church-y.
The high walls, the statue of the goddess, the arched and pointed window tips... everything was pretty in line with that. Well, plus the fact the man was wearing a very pope-like hat with the image of a star burned in gold on it. He also held a staff with the very same pattern on the end of its bulbous head. But instead of just being an image, it was real metalwork.
"Get up and show respect to The Pope." The Boundless said in a hushed whisper as though he was trying to help Grey out.
Grey made a weird face. "What the fuck is wrong with you people? You see a dude catching some Z’s and your idea of a good move is to bring him here? Am I the one who isn’t respecting ’the pope’, or is it you?"
The Boundless froze up a bit, not expecting Grey to say something like that.
Grey might have just woken up, but he was nothing if not street smart. What he hated the most were slimy political plays, too.
He didn’t know why The Boundless had done this exactly, but no matter how you sliced it, if he respected the pope so much, it didn’t make sense to bring someone who was clearly sleeping up here like this.
The only real explanation that Grey could think of in real time was that The Boundless didn’t really respect this Pope at all, which was very interesting. Very interesting, indeed.
But Grey also wasn’t one to be used lightly either. He was brought here as someone who was basically a prisoner, but this prisoner bit back.
Grey leapt to his feet with a quick maneuver before The Boundless could think of a response. He brushed the glass off of him and swiped at his face to dismiss his Helm Frame.
"Sorry about that," he said, hooking his thumb over his shoulder toward The Boundless, "I have no idea what this guy was thinking. I’m Grey, nice to meet you."
The Pope, surprisingly, chuckled. In fact, Grey could see some of his wrinkles smooth out during his laugh, the weight of its genuineness shimmering through.
"Grey Temolt, I have heard about you, yes." The Pope nodded slowly. "Some very good things. Also some very bad things."
Grey sighed. "I have a reputation, what can I say? The women love me, but the men are jealous. They like to spread rumors."
The Pope laughed aloud this time, pulses of white gold coming from him.
Grey’s pupils couldn’t help but constrict a bit. This man was strong, very strong. Stronger than even The Relentless had been.
Though he had never fought The Boundless, Grey had a feeling that The Pope was probably stronger than him as well. That made things more curious.
If The Pope had higher standing than The Guardians, and was stronger, was Grey wrong about his assessment? Or were there more political games being played here than he knew?
He might have thought it weird that the Pope didn’t appear when last he caused chaos in the Holy City. But five of the Guardians hadn’t appeared either. Even the Dukes didn’t appear, and only a projection of the Empress had appeared, and even then only because it was her daughter that had died. She still didn’t take personal action.
Everybody in this damned place was just weird.
"Is that so? But I have heard that you have killed a Monk, and a Bishop. Are these things untrue?" There was a flicker of a dangerous light in the Pope’s eyes.
Suddenly, Grey was wondering if he had been brought here despite his sleeping not as a sign of disrespect to this man, but instead because he really was just here to be a prisoner and the old man wanted to lay eyes on him personally.
"Ah, water under the bridge. I don’t plan on targeting the Church for those things, you don’t need to worry about it."
The Pope blinked.
The Boundless blinked.
Amunet and the other two almost facepalmed. Grey was really going to be the death of all of them.
"I cannot tell if you are bold or stupid, young Grey."
"Well, my gramps didn’t raise a fool. So you tell me."
The Pope chuckled a bit more darkly this time. "Do you understand what crimes you have just admitted to?"
"I dunno. Why don’t you tell me?"
"Ones that are punishable by death."
"Is that so? Then why don’t you tell me what the punishment is for assigning Dark Kin to the role of bishop, and then taking this Dark Kin as your master?"
The Pope’s eyes narrowed.
"I don’t believe that in all your reports of what I’ve supposedly done, you didn’t register the energy of one of the Old Ones. And I also don’t believe that you didn’t know that the ’monk’ I killed was taken in as a disciple by that very bishop. So, again, what is the punishment for that?
"I’m sure you have to be pretty high up to assign a bishop his position, no? That man was probably the highest ranked church official in the city, so no one in the city itself could have assigned him that title? So someone a lot higher up, hm?
"It couldn’t have been a guardian, is it?" Grey gasped in faux shock. "Don’t tell me it was you, mighty sir pope the great."
The temperature in the room seemed to plummet. Whether it was Amunet, Mauve, or Brad, they all paled considerably. In fact, even The Boundless found himself covered in goosebumps.
Grey, by comparison, just looked ahead with a bright smile. His faux shock was gone and he just stood there looking like a kid who had successfully snatched a cookie from the cookie jar.
Maybe he was wrong. Political games could get kinda fun.