"My lord, if we happen to be wrong, and that is indeed Havon leading the battle against those intruders, this'll be the single biggest blunder in our clan's history. We will go down as the generation that failed to help the savior, and in turn, failed to have him owe us," Shaviki continued.
The king remained silent, an unbothered expression on his face as he looked at the other council members. In truth, the king had wanted to go to Havon's aid. Battles had to be fought, and in that sense, it was the reason he was king.
"I stand my ground. Let the Zeldraves go help. With forces unprepared for this battle, it's suicide," the eldest advisor said.
"I-I vote we go. We cannot let the Zeldraves have the upper hand on us. They're too close to our territory. If Havon favor's them over us, then it'll only be a matter of time before they conquer our lands," another advisor said, causing Shaviki's grin to grow even wider.
"As do I," everyone else repeated.
~Old fool, you chose the wrong side on this one,~ Shaviki thought to himself as he looked at the eldest advisor.
To Shaviki, this council room was nothing but a pit of yesman. Perhaps only three of his kinsmen here were worth the struggle, but with this win, Shaviki was probably ahead in the race.
"My king, if you will, let me lead the first squadron down the path," Shaviki asked, as the notion was about to be passed.
"What? My king, have him thrown into the pit for his hubris. He is not the head warrior, why should a council member have any position in the warfarers region?" the eldest asked.
~Pfft. You only say that because your son is the head warrior. But I won't let you have even that much,~ Shaviki thought to himself before sighing.
"My king, should we encounter Havon, would it not be better to have an intellectual speak to him first? We do not know how deep in battle he is, what if he takes us as an enemy army? Should someone more capable of explaining not be at the front line?" Shaviki asked.
Sure, he was putting himself at a higher risk of death. But this was the creature known as Shaviki, one with the goal of becoming king. High risk bore high reward, and this was the riskiest play of them all.
"Shaviki is right. We can have the head warrior by his side. Ready the warriors, let us advance our forces before the Zeldraves reach there," the king roared, before moving to leave the room.
"Wait. We? My king, do you mean to join the battle?" Shaviki asked. For once everyone in the room seemed to be in sync, they hadn't seen the king in true battle ever since this war against the intruders started.
"If this truly is Havon, then this will be the last time we see these invaders. I won't sit while my enemies are dealt with by someone else," the king said, before moving through the door.
The Chameleon king, standing at 8 feet tall, with a massive build. On his back, four lines were tallied in red, with a fifth line striking through all of them. The brand of a guardian, a lord amongst his kin.
***
"Did you see that?" Ghost asked, noticing Pagan's moon's wrath in the distance. By the time she and Alpha arrived at the location, they found multiple corpses, lying around a single large crater.
"Pagan!" Ghost shouted, before dashing towards him.
"Take him back to the camp and have Hannibal heal him," Alpha said coldly, before staring at the temple ahead.
"And what about you?"
"Lucius's spell wasn't let off, and he wouldn't just leave Pagan here. Something's off. I'm going to check it out," Alpha replied.
"Then I'm goi-"
"You're smarter than me, aren't you? Both of us going, and leaving Pagan here doesn't make sense. And you're faster than me, so you can get him out of here quicker," Alpha interrupted, before rushing towards the temple.
'Save him. Save him.' The voices in Alpha's head screamed. He could feel that the sensation was reaching a boiling point.
As he got closer to the temple he began looking for openings from which he could sneak in. However, there seemed to be only one, a large door at the front, no doubt guarded by some pretty strong creatures.
Alpha cowled his body, releasing so much radiance into his system that it felt like his skin was boiling, before rushing towards the door with his bulwark out.
The few undead that were stationed directly at the entrance were bulldozed through, and Alpha found himself within the dark crevice which was the entrance to the temple.
He had never seen walls so smooth before, it was a great contrast to its rather crude exterior. Using the light emanating from his body, he attempted to find his way around.
Even though he had no idea where Lucius was, it felt like a string was pulling him to the higher floors, and that was as good a hint as any.
The deeper in he went, the smoother and more intricate the walls became. Soon, odd skeletons began to line the walls in decoration, and even though he didn't have the time to look at them properly, he still got a sense of the creature that had wanted such decoration.
"I have to hurry up," he whispered to himself, as he bulldozed through yet another set of guards. He was like a beam of light, even the creatures stronger than him had no time to react to his blitzkrieg.
As he was running down the dark hallways, he saw a massive creature standing guard on the other end. The creature was so big that it covered half the corridor, a pathway that was large enough to fit two whole trees.
Alpha attempted to bulldoze through it like he had the other creatures, hoping that it was too slow to react, however, he just bounced off its armor.
He was sent flying back, his bulwark smashed to pieces.
"Radiant Mirage," he chanted, creating a perfect mirror clone of himself, before rushing at the creature again.
The creature thrust its front two legs into the air in response, before slamming them down, causing the entire ground to shake.
Alpha was sent flying back once again, this time with a realization of the difference in raw strength between him and the creature in front of him.
