A woman walked down a long and dark hallway, lost in thought. She wore a round, silver helmet with a black face plate that left her eyes and mouth clearly visible. Her body was covered in a tight, purple leotard that accentuated her bust while a stitched, purple cloak hung around her shoulders, matching a pair of detached sleeves that widened at the ends. This allowed her large silver talons to maneuver freely. She completed the look with a pair of leather thigh highs that cut off at her shins for her scaly, clawed feet.

Her stride was calm and measured, yet each step she took was placed with a sense of purpose. A small smile was plastered on her face, betraying none of her internal thoughts and emotions. Her pace quickly brought her to a grand set of doors, darker than the shadows she found herself in. They were more than twice as tall as she was, and were elegantly inlaid with gold and silver. There was a large emblem of two hammers, crossed over each other with two straight horns sprouting out underneath, carved into the dark stone. The woman places her clawed hands on each door and pushes them open with ease, splitting the emblem down the middle where the doors meet. The doors swing open in a smooth arc as she walks into the center of a massive, tastefully decorated chamber, her eyes glued to the floor. Large pillars lined its length, made of the same dark-gray stone as the rest of the room as if it had been carved directly out of a mountain. 

When she roughly reached the halfway mark, she knelt down onto her knee with her head down. “Lord Mard Geer, I have come to report on an urgent matter Seilah has brought to my attention.”

A man, seated on a throne at the end of the room, looked up from his book. His dark hair was tied into a ponytail that hung down his back, crashing down like waves of shadow as they seemed to absorb the dim light present. He closes the hardcover tome with a snap, carelessly tossing it aside with a smirk. “Kyouka. Speak.”

“One of the guilds under our jurisdiction, Cryptic Coffin, has been eradicated several days ago. I deemed it prudent to inform you of the matter.”

“And? Why are you disgracing my garden with such knowledge? The humans are worthless. Their guilds are worthless. All that matters is E.N.D.” Mard Geer sat up a little straighter, a heavy, suffocating aura emanating from his relaxed figure as small, thorny vines broke up through the gray stone around Kyouka. “Speak carefully, lest my rage make itself known.”

Kyouka gulped nervously as she broke out into a cold sweat, her mouth dry as sand. “T-the child. The one who carried traces of Zeref’s magic. It was left with Cryptic Coffin to experiment on.”

Mard Geer’s eyes widened with comprehension. The vines that were creeping up on Kyouka retreated back into the stone, much to her relief. “Ah, I remember now. So my little side project has been stolen from me. Hm… it matters not. Locating the lost country is more important at the moment. We can take back what’s ours anytime we please. After all, what is our goal Kyouka?”

“To revive our Master and return to Zeref.”

“Precisely. While we could use the child to locate Zeref’s whereabouts, we must first revive our Master or it would be pointless. Though… the thought of someone taking what belongs to me is rather aggravating. Send some of our soldiers to recover my property, but none of the Gate of Tartaros are to act personally. We must stay hidden. If Grimoire Heart or the Oración Seis realize what it is we’re doing, they may band together to stop us. Combined with the threat of the Magic Council… No. In the shadows is where we will thrive.”

“What about the Magic Council’s secret weapon, Face? Would it not be quicker for our mole to activate Face right now?”

“Patience, Kyouka. Have you forgotten so soon? We need to unseal Face first before we can activate it. To do so now would draw too much attention, and with the Etherion active we can’t make such hasty, poorly thought out decisions. We have all the time in the world, and failure is absolutely unacceptable. Do you understand?”

“Yes, my lord. Your word is my will.”

“Good. You may leave.”

Mard Geer watched Kyouka retreat with a sneer as he hugged a tattered book close to his chest. It was a simple book, unmarked in every way save for three emblazoned letters on the front. ‘E.N.D’. 

“Yes. It is only a matter of time before E.N.D is awakened and the day comes when we finally meet you, Master Zeref. And when we do, we will fulfill your one and only wish. Death, for that is the purpose for which you made us.”