In a dark cave, eleven figures stood in a circle, an air of melancholy and sadness permeated the atmosphere.
Silence reigned supreme as each person let the latest news sink in.
Akranos, Surramir, Raaz, and the leader were dead, killed in battle.
"How is this possible?!" Golzan was furious. "Leader was a Grandmaster. How could a Master defeat him?!"
Jagamar faced him, wounds from the battle with Theron had healed. "So, we're lying?"
Golzan stared, before falling to his knees. "Damn!"
He smashed his fist into the ground.
"Damn!"
About to do it again, but Jagamar stops him.
"Stop. Are you trying to expose us?"
Golzan's arms bulged, but he didn't force it.
Instead he stared into Jagamar's eyes, holding him by the collar.
"Why didn't you help him?! If you did, he might still be here"
Jagamar didn't utter a word.
A vine slashed at Golzan's hand.
Dodging it, Golzan grinded his teeth. "Naberus"
"Why didn't you intervene in a battle of Grandmasters? Are you serious?"
"I am, how dare-
"That's enough!" Maldaga shouted, bringing the confrontation to a halt. "None of this is going to bring the leader back" she says, clearing out her tears.
She had lost an arm, cutting it down herself to stop the spread of Ezra's poison.
Silence reigns once again.
Goceron speaks, his tone laced with sadness. "It's as Maldaga says. Leader won't be coming back regardless of how much we fight. Besides, we all knew this could happen"
Each person stole glances at another.
Even if the possibility existed, they'd never lost four members all at once.
It was a massive blow to their strength, to say the least.
"So, what do we do now?"
Crea voice took center stage. "While the leader may have gone, the mission stays the same, and we must make sure we succeed. That is the only way to honour leader and our fallen brothers, their deaths cannot be in vain"
That woke up the fighting spirit of others.
"Right, we must avenge leader"
Infaas spoke. "The one who killed leader is still alive"
Everyone froze.
"How do you know that?" Golzan faced him.
"I have my sources"
"Where is he?!" Golzan flew into rage. "I must make sure of his death!"
"Calm down" said Infaas, his tone calm. "That won't be needed. His meridians have been shattered and his core destroyed. Moreover, he's in Arcadia"
"What?" Golzan was confused.
"Apparently, he became a demon after eating leader's heart"
"Damn this!" Golzan shouted, turning to Jagamar. "Why didn't stay and make sure he died?!"
Wiping away the saliva splattered on him, he responds. Reminiscing. "We'll have all died if we did"
Battling the siblings took tolls on them.
But they would've gone to retrieve the leader's body if it was only that.
Instead, Ziltris sent them a message through their psychic connection.
"Run! Run now!"
Having felt the incoming presence of Grandmasters, he mustered the little energy left to send that message.
Thereafter, Ziltris died.
The urgency in his voice compelled them to obey.
He thought to himself. 'We were too weak to be of any help'
They couldn't even recover his body.
With that over, this time Numer spoke.
"We finished setting up the gate, now, we just have to wait for enough sacrifices to fill it up"
"We can't do that," Goceron interjected. "We've been revealed to the whole world, do you think they're going to wait around while we complete our objectives?"
"What do you mean?" Crea inquired, the rest listening to the conversation.
"I'm saying we are about to come under heavy fire"
"And so?" Golzan didn't get it.
"The plan has to be sped up," Crea responded.
Goceron nodded.
"I don't understand" said Jagamar and Golzan at the same time.
After a heavy sigh, Goceron explains.
"As we have been exposed, the world now has its eyes on us" they nod, he continues. "We've killed too many for them to ignore, so we can be attacked at any moment"
"Now, if I were the enemy, I would be preparing a plan of attack. After all, they know very little of what we're capable of. In consequence though, their attack would be one concentrated to destroy us all at once"
"So…" Jagamar was beginning to pick up. "…their attack might destroy the plan?"
"Not might" Goceron replied. "Will"
"How can you be so sure?" Golzan retorted.
Goceron chuckled. "Individually, we're plenty strong. Against the combined might of three continents though, we be lucky to die with our limbs attached"
"Then" Crea came in. "We have to finalize the plan before they attack?"
"Not exactly" Goceron nodded. "We have to finalize the plan before their combined attack"
"Raixeros, Ledemor, Russell, Covaria Vorus, and now Quartez are our allies. I expect all of them to come under fire within the next two months at the latest. With Niton's present condition, another war would simply not do. So, they'll likely outsource. And in doing so, many independent forces, newcomers and old enemies will come to take a bite of the cake"
Inimeel spoke. "What about the Grandmasters? Will they not turn on us?"
"They won't" Goceron shook his head ever so slowly. "Not if they're smart"
"We promised them a pathway to the next realm of power, and we'll be doing just that by finalizing the plan"
"Moreover, they've been branded demonic allies. There is no coming back from that, even if they seek to surrender" A evil grin formed. "No, I hope some of them do, or at least try to"
Volbrin spoke "He's right, I know humans. They'd rather die and believe demons or anything related to them could do anything good, and that will work perfectly into what he's envisioning"
"Thank you" Goceron smiled. "As such, their best option would be to simply aid us to the end. Their fate was sealed the moment we joined hands"
"Okay" Crea nodded. "What about the plan? How do we speed it up?"
"Simple" Numer interjected. "We'll make another seal and place it in the latter half of this continent."
Crea frowned. "It took years to make one and nine months to place it, we don't have such time. Except…Goceron, did you perhaps make another?"
"Unfortunately, I didn't" Goceron answered. "The items used aren't commonplace"
"What do we do then?"
Goceron coughed. "That said, I have a few additions" he raised his palm to stop from interrupting. "It's not enough to make another set, but, placed strategically-we can widen the seal to encompass a far larger area"
"How large?" Crea inquired.
"Hard to say"
"And if we could get a bit more?"
Goceron stared with a questioning gaze.
"Hmm, the whole continent isn't impossible. Only, the rate of collection would be slower"
Crea nodded. "This seems best"
"But how do you hope to get more materials?"
Crea simply stared into the cave, at the deepest part, where the leader stood.
Goceron followed her gaze. "That's too risky, you might die"
"I know, but if we are to succeed, we need 'their' help"
The others gulped nervously.
Crea walks into the door.
Only the leader could communicate with the other side, an emissary. With him gone, someone else would have to do it.
That said, if whoever she met wasn't in a good mood, she could be killed with the snap of a finger.
In any case, once entered she couldn't come out except as the new emissary or as a corpse.
At least, that's what the leader had told them.
Apart from that…
'If I succeed, I'll be the leader'
The leader death brought about a vacant position.
While the others were still fearful, she decided to take her chances.
Being the next leader was too good to pass up.
Moreover, if they were to succeed the plan, she'd be in a perfect position to reap the best benefits.
In both short term and long term, the gains outweighed the risks.
Of course, she wasn't the only one to have thought this but the chances of being killed were too high, so others waited for someone to go ahead first.
Pushing the nicely carved red door, Crea stepped into the room.
A sigil lay carved into the ground with black ink.
In front of it was a small pool of what is revealed to be blood, one of very high quality.
Crea felt euphoric sniffing it.
Demons drank blood and ate humans.
To Half-demons who could still eat normal food, it was the best of delicacies.
A pillar lay at its middle holding a tiny red crystal half glistening.
'How beautiful'
She longed to touch it, stepping right into the sigil.
*Creak*
The door closed. The sigil lit up right after, and the ground seemed to face, projecting the image of a land scorched and battered.
'The other side'
Then, the image twisted, opening to a demon's visage.
Sitting on a black throne, it stared into her eyes.
"Seradim mutim?"
He wasn't speaking a language she knew, but she understood.
'Calm down, calm down, calm down'
After a nervous gulp, she raised her head to maintain eye contact.
She couldn't help but fall on her knees, breathing heavily while her pale expression and the shaking hands told of her dread.
Thereafter, it asked again.
"Seradin mutim?"
(Who are you?)
