Thursday, April 17, 2025

Word: Cardinal

cardinal

[ kahr-dn-l ]

noun

  1. Roman Catholic Church. a high ecclesiastic appointed by the pope to the College of Cardinals and ranking above every other ecclesiastic but the pope.

 

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The ritual was done. Finally done. Years of labor. Thousands of gold in materials. All for this one glorious moment. Cardinal Wilfred only wished he could actually witness the summoning. Alas, there were very specific requirements, and his being there would throw the whole thing off. No, he would have to be content with seeing the Hero after he had been properly introduced to the world. 

The doors to his office opened. One of the higher ranked priests entered with his head bowed. Wilfred looked on eagerly to hear the man’s report. 

“Well? How is the new Hero?” 

“Adjusting, Cardinal.” The priest said. “It may take longer than we anticipated.” 

“Why is that? Is there something wrong with him?”  

“I am not sure. He has not spoken much and is treating us with suspicion.” 

“That is only to be expected.” The Cardinal said with a slight nod.  

He and his fellow Cardinals anticipated the new Hero would not immediately trust them. It was only to be expected, given they had ripped him from his native world without warning. He looked over the priest. It seemed like the man had more to say. 

“Is there another problem?” 

“Well, forgive me for asking, but the ritual was supposed to summon a human Hero, yes?” 

Wilfred’s brow furrowed in confusion. What other race could the Hero be? Only humans had the versatility to be a proper Hero. Beatfolk had next to no magical ability, while elves were too physically frail.  Dwarves had little stamina and giantfolk were far too slow. No, it had to be a human.  

“Why do you ask? Is the hero not human?” 

The priest rubbed his arm and looked away. “No, Cardinal. He isn’t.” 

Cardinal Wilfred sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. A non-human hero. He could see the disaster in the making. A proper Hero needed to be able to do just about everything with a high proficiency. And only humans could do that.  

Well, it was not all lost. Sure, humans had versatility, but the other races tended to be much better in their respective areas of expertise. Maybe this Hero could be trained well enough to still be mostly functional in their new role.  

“Alright, what is he?” 

The priest studiously avoided the Cardinal’s gaze. Wilfred got a bad feeling. 

“A, uh...that is, the summoned Hero is a....” The priest muttered the next word, making it so that Wilfred could not hear it properly. He did head a ‘D’ though. Maybe a dragon? That would be quite the interesting turn of events. But he could not assume. 

“What was that? I didn’t quite hear you.” 

“A...demon, Cardinal. The Hero we summoned is a demon.” 

Cardinal Wilfred chuckled. “A fine joke. Now tell me, what did we summon?” That was the only explanation, of course. Someone thought it would be funny to tell Wilfred something so outlandish. Maybe Cardinal Abal.  

“It is not a joke, Cardinal. We summoned a demon through the Hero ritual. All our tests and scans tell us he was successfully marked as a true Hero.” 

Wilfred’s face fell. A mask of complete seriousness came over him. “You aren’t joking? This is real?” 

“Yes, Cardinal.” 

“A demon...Hero.” He mulled the words over. It felt wrong to him. Like the world itself was making fun of him and his efforts. “I suppose I should see him for myself. And then we will judge what to do with our new Hero.” 

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There are more definitions of the word Cardinal that I could've used. Too many to conveniently list here, so I only put the one I used.  If it helps, it also refers to various types of birds and a shade of the color red.

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