But upon that first glimpse of the Cardinal, Fisher's expression turned grave, and a sense of foreboding rose in his heart. He reached out and pulled Emhardt, who was also appraising the situation, into his arms. Slowly, they approached the trembling Cardinal,
"Cardinal?"
"Beep beep... malfunction... connection failed... zzzt, mission target detected, initiating message task of thread two."
The Cardinal before them suddenly lost the power of flight and plunged into the snow. As waves of blue Cardinal light pulsed, the familiar voice of the Cardinal once again reached Fisher's ears,
"Mr. Fisher, there's no time, I'll be brief. I've been monitoring the Life Minister's movements; he's been closing in on Sema Snow Mountain, so I let my guard down and didn't warn you about his whereabouts. But in truth, since he landed in the Northern Realm, he has been searching for my hiding place, intending to deal with me first."
