The audience chamber beyond those massive doors defied the administrative simplicity of the corridors leading to it — a vast, circular space where seven robed figures, each radiating a presence considerably more weighty than Vethrion's own, sat arranged around a central dais bathed in soft, shifting light.
"Lukas Gigonos," the centermost figure said, voice carrying an authority that settled over the entire chamber like a physical weight. "Completed trainee of the process you know as the Gods' Training Grounds. You petition this Circle regarding matters connected to the exile of the one known as the Grey Sovereign, and regarding an irregular transfer case your party has brought before us. Speak, and speak completely. This Circle does not favor petitioners who withhold relevant information."
I laid out everything — the Ashwound, Valoria's three-century vigil, the tournament attack, Vessyl's assault, Malakar's defection, and finally, the Realmgate construction Malakar's intelligence had confirmed was nearing completion.
The seven figures remained silent throughout my entire account, their expressions, such as they were beneath their own shifting, indistinct features, giving away remarkably little. When I finally finished, a different figure — seated to the centermost one's immediate left — finally spoke.
"A Realmgate construction of this nature would constitute a severe violation of this Circle's original sentencing terms," it said. "If your account proves accurate upon verification, this Circle bears direct responsibility for addressing it, given that our own historical judgment against the Grey Sovereign created the circumstances allowing his continued, unsupervised existence."
"Will you help stop him, then?" I asked directly.
The centermost figure was quiet for a long moment before responding. "This Circle can offer certain forms of assistance, Lukas Gigonos. Knowledge, certain protective sanctions, formal acknowledgment of your coalition's standing as a legitimate defensive force acting with this Court's implicit sanction. We cannot, however, act directly against the Grey Sovereign ourselves without violating the very protocols against excessive divine intervention that govern this Court's own conduct."
It was a frustrating, if not entirely unexpected, limitation. "Then what can you actually offer?" I asked, careful to keep frustration from fully coloring my tone.
"Information," the figure said. "Regarding the nature of Realmgates, regarding methods of countering or sealing one under construction, and regarding the true nature of the Architect, whose existence and activities this Circle has, admittedly, failed to adequately investigate or constrain across considerably longer than the three centuries of your own most immediate concern."
"And in exchange?" I asked, recalling Vethrion's earlier warning that nothing granted by the Court's authority came without eventual cost.
The centermost figure's attention sharpened, something almost approving in its weighty regard. "Perceptive. Yes, Lukas Gigonos, there is a cost. This Circle requires, in exchange for the assistance offered, that you undertake a formal investigation on our behalf — into the transfer case you have brought before us today."
Ivy, who had remained silent and visibly overwhelmed throughout the entire proceeding, straightened at the direct reference to her own situation.
"Her incomplete transfer," the figure continued, "suggests interference with Architect protocol that predates even the Grey Sovereign's exile by a considerable margin. This Circle has long suspected irregularities within the Architect's broader operation, without sufficient evidence or authority to formally investigate. Your unique standing — completed trainee, established coalition leader, demonstrated capability against significant threats — makes you uniquely positioned to pursue such investigation where this Circle's own more constrained protocols cannot easily reach."
"You want me to investigate the Architect directly," I said slowly. "Not just stop the Grey Sovereign's Realmgate, but uncover whatever's actually happening with this entire training and harvest system."
"Precisely," the figure confirmed. "Do this, and this Circle will provide considerably more support than the modest assistance already offered — direct intervention against the Grey Sovereign should your investigation and coalition's efforts prove insufficient alone, and resolution of Miss Chen's irregular transfer status, whatever that resolution ultimately requires."
I looked to Kai, whose expression carried the same complicated mixture of vindication and unease I felt myself — two years of solitary investigation into exactly this mystery, suddenly validated and formally sanctioned by the very cosmic authority that should have been investigating it all along.
"I accept," I said. "On one condition. Whatever this investigation reveals, I want your Circle's genuine commitment to act on it, rather than simply filing it away as one more piece of information too politically inconvenient to address directly."
The centermost figure was quiet for a long moment, and when it finally responded, something in its careful, weighty tone carried what might have been genuine respect. "You drive a harder bargain than most petitioners who stand before this Circle, Lukas Gigonos. Very well. You have this Circle's formal commitment. Investigate the Architect's true nature and purpose. Report your findings directly to this chamber. And know that whatever you ultimately uncover, this Court will not simply look away from it a second time."