Glyn Mattox sits in his room, standing over his desk as he looks over an old fades map. Barely able to make it out, he traces what he can onto a hand-drawn map. Shaking his head, he pushes his map aside and looks over several papers and documents. He sits down on the edge of his nearby bed, shaking his head as his frustration rises.

            “Damn it. The last week and I have no idea when and where the attacks could come in from.” He whispers to himself, biting his fingernails. “At this rate, we’ll have to send out blind scouts to find where the others are. I have to find him before anyone else does. I have to be the one to take him out!”

            “Glyn!” A voice yells out from the door.

            “Come in.”

Mila enters the room with her tail swinging around as she rushes to Glyn’s side. “Good morning, Glyn.”

            “Good morning, Mila.”

            “Are you worried about the map still?” She fidgets nervously as he shakes his head and she smiles.

He smiles slightly, looking at her. “I’m just a little worried, is all. We only have to the end of the week.”

            “Don’t worry!” She yells out. “We’ve been training nonstop. But with Brother and everyone, I’m sure we can make it work, and now we have Tisha and Zanrit on our side!”

He stands up and walks over to her. “Thanks for reassuring me.” He says.

She blushes and turns her head away. “Yeah! You can count on us.” She turns away. “Especially me.” She whispers.

He laughs and pretends not to hear her as he walks over to a window and stares out at the courtyard.

Down below, the pawns train battling one another in mock battles as the dog-eared Miller directs them. In the middle of the battles, the large orc Zanrit swings around a massive club as two of the pawns leap out of the range of the attack. Tan the Harpy takes off into the air and charges toward Zanrit as he blocks her blows.

            “You’re getting better,” Zanrit says, pushing her back.

She nods and then lands on the ground in front of him. “And you’re not smashing up weapons anymore.”

            “I think we’re getting the hand of training together,” Zanrit says as the two laugh.

Nearby the Elvan warrior, Tisha fires off a volley of arrows as Sam holds up his shield, blocking the attacks. As he blocks the woman behind him, Fiona leaps out from behind and charges toward Tisha. She swings her axe towards Tisha, who leaps out of the way, back flipping and pulling out an arrow before firing it out towards her.

Fiona dodges the attack. “Come on. You almost hit me that time.”

            “That’s kind of the point. If I don’t try to hit you, then how are you going to get any better?” She asks.

            “Tisha is right, you know,” Sam says.

Fiona slaps him on the back. “Shut up! I’m just saying that we need to not risk injuring each other during training.”

            “I’ll keep that in mind if you want me to take it easy on you,” Tisha says with an arrogant smirk on her face.

Fiona glares at her. “Shut your pointy-eared ass!”

            “How do my ears, being pointy, have anything to do with my ass?”

            “Shut it!” Fiona stomps back and grabs Sam. “We’re going again. And this time I’ll stop holding back!”

Tisha smiles. “Then I guess I can start using magic.”

            “Please try not to kill each other.” Glyn says, walking up to the scene.

            “Oh, you’re up now?” Tisha asks.

Glyn shakes his head. “I was up since sunrise. I’ve been trying to think up an offensive plan for dealing with the other candidates.”

            “Any luck?” Miller asks, approaching.

            “No. Jubert Island is sadly such an isolated place. It serves as a good place for defending. But launching offensive missions is extremely difficult. There are no islands less than a day away, and considering how many islands are in this archipelago, they could be anywhere.” Glyn says, shaking his head. “It’s quite frustrating. Hopefully, we’ll come across another candidate soon so we can take their territory.”

            “What?” Miller asks.

            “Oh right. I was so focused on getting ready that I never told you about the rules.”

            “There are rules to this war?” Mila asks.

            “Of course. If we didn’t have rules, there’d be total anarchy.”

            “So, what are these rules?” Miller asks.

Glyn nods as he pulls out his book. “The first rule. Every candidate becomes a lord of their assigned island.”

            “Can we skip the obvious rules?” Tisha asks.

            “I’m only going over the most important rules. Anyway. A candidate is considered out of the competition when either their King Piece is claimed or destroyed, or they are killed.”

            “Killed!?” Mila asks.

Miller nods. “It would be the easiest way to win. But what does it mean by claimed?”

            “If you’re in a situation where you cannot win, you can hand your King Piece to your assailant and they can assimilate it into their own. The same happens when you kill someone. If you absorb another piece, you and anyone connected to your piece can gain a small power boost.”

            “So, we can grow stronger by beating the King,” Mila says.

            “Yeah, but the same applies to them. So, sitting around and waiting out the war isn’t an option if you don’t want to be at a major disadvantage.” Glyn says.

            “It’s a scenario to force a more active participation,” Tisha says.

            “On top of that, there’s another rule. Rule three upon losing the loser must turn over all territories to the winner. So, if we were to lose, then someone else would have access to Jubert Island and the dungeon on our island.”

            “Wait, if that’s true then the other way to win this would subsequently be to conquer the Alook Islands,” Mila says.

Glyn nods. “That’s right. This simulated war is a game of conquest between the twelve candidates. It simulates the King’s old battles before the continent was united.”

Tisha sighs. “Quite a cumbersome system. Either way, in our case, we’re in the middle of nowhere on the archipelago.”

            “And talks between the islands ended soon after the king took his reign. No one on the island today would’ve been alive back when we communicated with our sister islands.” Miller says.

Glyn shakes his head. “I’m well aware of that. I was hoping this place would have a map, but as far as you’re all concerned, if it doesn’t happen here, it might as well be in a foreign country.”

            “Look, the way of our ancestors is none of our business,” Fiona says. “Besides, plenty of people have wandered in after we closed off the island. I mean, look at Mila and even Tan’s folks. So it’s not like we’re completely in the dark about the outside world.”

Tan flies in, landing next to Fiona. “Yeah, my grandparents flew here back when my Mama was an egg.”

            “That’s not the issue. The issue is how little we know from now on. We might need to take up a scouting mission or two, but we’re not in the best position to divide our forces.” Glyn shakes his head. “So troublesome.”

            “We’ll deal with that as it comes. For now, we should prepare, and the best way to do that is training.” Miller grabs his sword. “Are you going to join us, Glyn?”

He smirks. “If we’re doing everything right, then I won’t have to fight. On top of that, my style of fighting is best saved until necessary.”

            “Right your curse,” Mila says.

            “It’s fine. I’m used to it by this point.”

Tisha shakes her head. “Where is your Elvan pride? If you were a true elf, then you’d seek a cure no matter what.”

Glyn smirks. “Come on. Do you think my human side is cursed? No, if anything, my human side is blessed. It’s the Elvan side that’s cursed.”

            “What do you…..”

            “Someone’s coming,” Zanrit says, planting his weapon down.

They stare at the gates as a young man in armor rushes into the courtyard. “Miller!”

            “What is it?” Miller asks.

            “Someone’s arrived on the island.”

            “Who? Are they dangerous?”

            “Well….” He turns and stares at Tisha. “Oh, good you’re that Elf.”

            “Yeah, what is it?”

            “One of your fellows drifted on a ship onto the island. He’s heavily injured and in need of medical assistance. Our healers are with him now, but we don’t know a lot about elves.”

Tisha drops her weapon. “Where are they!?”

            “In the chief’s house.”

Miller nods. “Everyone's training is on hold until we get back!”

            “Mila, stay here. Tisha, Miller, and I will go down and check the situation.” Glyn says.

Mila nods. “Stay safe.”

Tisha clenches her fist as she stomps ahead. “Whoever’s responsible for this…”

            “Calm down. We need to know the story before we go off the handle.” Glyn says, rushing up to her.

            “You're right. But after we know the story, I’m going to kill the person who did it.”

            “If it was a person,” Miller says, walking up to the pair.