Lupri, The First's Castle

Mosi led them down a decorated path filled with art pieces and valuable paintings and treasures, none of the people there cared about that, they continued going down the hallway in complete silence, as if they were soldiers moving with only the sound of their footsteps sounding under them.

Nulara was particularly able to feel the pressure mounting up with each step they took, her heart was beating fast and she faced problems keeping her outward calm facade, if not for the fact that Bristlecone was not that far away from her and that that calming and refreshing scent would find its way to her nose from time to time, she would have lost her cool just after taking few steps after.

After a not so long period of walking in this kind of situation, Nulara was finally able to see a big intimidating gate at the end of the hallway, it was a big and well-decorated gate, with many of the engravings on its surface showing the emblem of the Pact of Ten, which was a combination of the emblems of the different ten races in a circle.

Before that big gate, on the right side wall, there was another door leading to what appeared to be a waiting room of some kind, Nulara knew that only the ten leaders had the privilege of entering the meeting room, while the side room was for their followers to wait in for them. 

After reaching the side room, Mosi turned to the people behind him and with a slight bow, he directed his words to the followers who were with them as he said:

"You can wait here till the meeting is over, if you need anything you can ask the servants inside for it."

As Nulara expected, no one moved a muscle, they all remained in their places next to their leaders, not showing any indication of leaving their sides at all.

That was to be expected and logical, the people there had heavy trust in the Alpha, and even if they didn't, it wasn't like they could go against him and his wishes anyway, so them leaving their guards and followers in the waiting room wasn't that hard to accept.

But this? This was different, they had no idea what was waiting for them inside, neither did they know anything about this new king.

None of them was ready to take the risk and enter there alone, except Bristlecone of course, the ancient ajahit had come there all alone from the start and didn't seem to care a lot about his safety.

Even though they went against the norm with this reaction of theirs, Mosi didn't show any hint of confusion or irritation, all he did was stand straighter again and say in the same polite yet internally haughty tone:

"My master foresaw that things might turn out like this, and ordered me to tell you that each of you is allowed to lead two followers at most with them inside, the others would still have to wait in the outside, I hope you comply."

No one spoke for a while as everyone seemed to be in deep thoughts, even Nulara drowned in her own thoughts as she considered if the people there were going to accept this suggestion or not.

"I find this proposal to be fair enough, don't you think? So why don't we hurry up and head in, I don't think that anything bad is going to happen," in the end, the ancient ajahit, Bristlecone was the first to speak as he headed towards the big gates leading to the meetings room.

The others froze for a bit before looking at each other shortly and start giving their followers different instructions as they chose who should stay and who should go inside with them.

"Taloora, Nulara, you're going in with me, everyone else, wait outside," with her thought still roaming around, Nulara was given a fright by Amathira's words as she almost jumped in her place, she had some deep fears that this was going to happen, but she had tried to calm herself down with how Tana was there and how she was probably going to be the one going in with the queen.

It seemed that Nulara wasn't the only one who got surprised because of this declaration, even Tana turned her head towards her mother and seemed as if she wanted to argue with her, but one single glance from Amathira made her freeze and lower her head.

Taloora didn't react at all to what happened, she just remained standing guard next to Amathira expressionlessly.

After everyone chose their guards and escorts, the ones who weren't chosen watched the others head to the gates and waited for them to enter, not heading to the waiting room themselves yet.

After everyone was ready and they stood in front of the big gates, Mosi nodded towards them before turning around and knocking on the gates gently.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

"Come in," The echo of the knocks hadn't even disappeared yet when a gentle calm yet emotionless voice sounded from within, only two words were spoken, yet they were able to make the hearts of most people there quiver.

That feeling made most of the kings and leaders frown lightly, the sound had a tinge of authoritative quality that they have always felt from the Alpha, but there were some differences, something weird was there too.

Throwing the people around her a sneak peek, Nulara noticed that other than the ajahit Bristlecone, the semigin Rillin and Mosi, all the others seemed a shade paler, she knew for sure that she probably was one of those who had it the worst.

Mosi bowed gracefully to the door before moving forward and pushing the big gate, despite how big it was and how it seemed as if it won't budge no matter what would hit it, the gate moved smoothly under Mosi's push without making any noise at all. 

"Please," with the gate open, Mosi stood to the side and bowed to them as he invited them to enter.

Whatever it was that was going through the minds of the people there at that moment, they all put on hard to read neutral expressions as they nodded to Mosi before heading inside confidently, none of them showing any weakness.

The first thing to catch Nulara's attention when she set foot into the meeting room was the big round table at the centre of the hall, and the different shaped and sized chairs around it, they were hard to miss considering their size and where they were in the room.

Of course just after that, what caught her full attention, and the full attention of everyone there, was the person sitting on the seat of honour, the biggest seat in the room, and which directly faced the big gate they were standing at.

After they entered, the sitting man stood up gracefully and nodded at them lightly before pointing to the chairs around the table and saying in the same calm tone of voice:

"Sit down please, let us start this meeting." 

The ten leaders and their twenty followers stopped for only a second before nodding lightly as they headed to their designated seats.

Only then did Nulara notice that the prepared seats around the table weren't only for the leaders, but behind every main seat, there were another two or three ones.

'Nulara, you sit,' while Nulara was following behind Amathira, she suddenly heard the queen's voice inside her head, making her freeze for a second, but soon her training kicked in as she went on as if nothing happened

She found it weird how the queen went through the trouble to mention that, after all, she was already meaning to sit down. But then, she realized how after reaching their seats, and after the other leaders sat down, their followers didn't take the seats behind them, instead, they stood on both sides of their leaders, like guards ready to stop whatever was coming, none of them used the provided chairs. 

Throwing one fast sneaky glance at Taloora, she found that the cold phas had already taken her place beside Amathira as she always did.

Even with the queen's reminder, it still took her half a second to start moving with heavy steps to the seat behind Amathira. 

She found it weird how she was the only one sitting down, beside the leaders, and feared that that would bring her some unwanted attention, and to her misfortune, it did

As soon as she took her place on the seat, she felt a cold oppressive stare fall on her, the gaze gave her a feeling as if she was in the presence of a predator sitting at the top of the food chain. 

Her breath got stuck in her lungs as she felt as if her heart had stopped and everything around her disappeared leaving only a dark blur, she only had that cold gaze in her mind.

After what felt like hours, even though she was sure that not even a few seconds had passed, she eventually felt that gaze move away from her as she was finally able to breathe again, she took discreet deep breathes as she tried unconsciously not to make a fool out of herself and act gracefully, something that was rooted deep in her core to the point that it became impossible for her to forget.

While she was still trying to control herself, she suddenly heard a cold sneer from the other side of the table, lifting her head instinctively, she saw Midlus looking at her with a disgusted expression on his face, when their eyes met he released another sneer and turned his head with a deep frown on his face.

After that, and with a fast-beating heart, she slowly turned her head around to look at the place she felt the glance that froze her from, when her eyes fell on the seat of honour, the man had already sat down again and he didn't seem to be showing her any interest.

The man appeared too normal to Nulara, he had black hair and eyes, with human features and built, even the clothes he wore seemed normal, he was basically a human from how he looked, from both his features and his built, if not for the feeling he radiated, Nulara would have mistaken him as one.

After getting a clearer look at him, Nulara turned her eyes hurriedly and with boiling fear in her beating heart, she didn't want to face that oppressive feeling anytime soon, but as that thought passed her mind, she remembered why she was there and her inevitable fate, making her turned even paler.

With everyone taking their positions, the man on the seat of honour nodded at Mosi who closed the gates before moving to take his place a few meters away behind the sitting man, with a final scan of the room he opened his mouth and said in the same tone he had been using till then:

"Let me welcome you once again everyone, we're supposed to introduce ourselves to each other, but since I know most of you already then there's no need to bother you with that, why don't I just introduce myself so we can continue," seeing them nod at him, the man went on:

"Again, I welcome all of you, my name is Malonal, and I'm the new king of this kingdom and the rightful heir to the Alpha, I called you here because I mean to make some changes to some of the laws the Alpha established. Now, with that out of the way, let's start this meeting."

With those words, one of the most important meetings in the history of Tellor began, one that would decide the fates of millions of people of different races.