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† { Herod made his way down the unfamiliar streets -- he couldn’t stand around wide-eyed forever, and if he had nothing else to do he might as well walk, try to find his way alone. The wooden cross he wore around his neck seemed nearly to mock him as it swayed against his chest with his movements. Divine intervention seemed far from likely here.
He tried to pray, but it seemed useless. Would the reach of a deity even extend to a place like this? The presence of God, usually so strong in his mind, seemed to have abandoned him, replaced with the overwhelming sensation of the innumerable beings that inhabited the city, and more spirits than he could comprehend.
He passed a young man, pale-haired and bright-eyed, and almost nodded politely and continued on his way... until he came within close range of the stranger.
The young man felt... different. While Herod was by no means a psychic, he had an instinctual enough knowledge of souls that he could sense that something was going on inside this stranger that was, to put it lightly, atypical -- a double presence where there would usually have been only one. He stopped for a moment, tilting his head. He wasn’t sure what to say, but the young man’s aura was too fascinating to ignore.
“Excuse me... are you all right?” He could only hope the young man wouldn’t be offended by his approach.
