Bella woke up from her sleep and rubbed her eyes. When she looked through the window, the night was still up, and the moons made her know it was past midnight. On the small drawer beside her was a half-empty potion bottle with some pale yellow liquid inside. She turned away from the window, grabbed the bottle and shook it a little. Her insomnia required the use of sleeping potions, though the amount needed had gone down for some time. As she prepared to open the bottle, her ears picked up a strange sound.

“Hahaha!!” A cheerful laughter from a girl entered her ears. She frowned, no one was supposed to be at home other than her. She was silent, and she heard the laughter again. This time, it sounded very familiar to her, but that brought no joy to her face. She slowly moved from her bed, and towards the door where the sound came from. When she opened the door, no one was there. 

“ Caught you!” This time, the sound came from the living room. Bella clapped her hands lightly, and the dark hallway lit up in bright light. She was dressed in her pale white sleepwear that wrapped loosely around her body. She moved down the stairs and into the living room, but again, no one was there to be seen. She stood still and focused more on her ears, her attempt was not futile as she again caught the laughter, this time, coupled with splashes of water. She moved across the living room and entered the garden. There, at last, she could see the source of laughter. A woman with long snow-white hair that contrasted her fierce red dress. She sat on the fountain while dipping her legs into the cold water.

“ Would you not sit beside me?” The woman seemed to have known about her arrival and thus asked Bella with her very sweet voice, but received no reply. She turned her face back and Bella found herself in front of the face she couldn’t ever forget. Herself. “ I thought you would be happy to meet me after such a long time.”

“ You are just an illusion of my mind,” Bella said as she gazed at her eyes. Different from Bella’s brown eyes, her younger self had clear icy blue colours that not only complemented her beautiful smile under the moonlight, but could also make one feel chills with just a glance. “ I feel so sad.” Young Bella said, not minding the ever so frowned look of her older self. “ You knew, I came just to help you, but here you are. Without an eye for appreciation.”

“ I don’t need your help.”

“ Wrong. I don’t need anyone’s help.” Young Bella turned her face back to the fountain water, near her feet, she could see the fishes going about their business. When she moved her feet, there was no wave in the water, but Bella still heard the sound of splashes. Followed by words from her younger self. “ Can you do something about these little things here? I don’t like how they ignore my presence. ” When she received no reply, her smile turned into a sigh. “ If I knew I would be this boring at my old age, I would have plunged the dagger into my heart.”

“ Why are you here?” Bella asked. But she didn’t expect an answer either. For she knew herself better than others. Her guess was not wrong. Instead of replying to her, Young Bella suddenly put her hands on her lips as she faced her gain.

“SSShhssss…” She said, before putting both hands on her ears. “ Can you hear it? The sound of the sands? Can you tell what they are saying? Rain is coming.” Young Bella said, with the face of a prophet who just made a prediction. “ Soon, the white peaks of Verdant Divide would be dyed in red, and the resounding cheers of our name would shake the very foundation on which they stood for millenniums.” 

“ I fail to see what's there to cheer for.” Old Bella knew it was futile to argue otherwise with herself. She didn’t plan to either and thus turned around to leave.

“ Our old friend is going to retire and give us another glass of victory. Is it not good enough for a celebration?” That was until she again heard her younger self. “ Shouldn’t you send her off to the end of the world with a grand party? It’s not every day one gets to go there.”

“I don’t thirst for victory anymore.” Bella turned back and came closer to the fountain. Truth has it, Cherry would not survive another war, but this was the war Thar couldn’t avoid. But for her, it’s not a question of victory but the price itself. If given a chance, Bella does have the power to do this herself, without a single casualty, but chains of the world bind her. Like every Wizard, she too was forbidden from direct involvement in affairs involving the world. She could strategise to the very limits, controlling the armies to the last recruit. But cannot fire the spell herself. It mattered very little whether the Thar was still part of the alliance or not, they still needed to follow their bottom line. That was, no wizard shall partake in worldly affairs directly. Bardar was the same, and so was Cellia. Other than life, they have all the stakes one could look for, their land, their people, their values. When she looked at the water, an old face appeared in front of her. A wry smile took hold of her. ‘Right, when did I ever care about such things?’ 

“ What do you see?” Young Bella seemed to have no interest in her older self’s thoughts. Her body moved and she flashed behind her older self, and put both hands on her eyes. “ Remember the game we used to play? We put blindfolds on our eyes and let the toys escape.”

“ I have no time to play.” Bella removed the hands from her eyes. 

“No? ” Her younger body disappeared from place and appeared beside the statue of the fountain, her feet floating just above the water. And said “ For when I walk, none would stop me. For when I stop, none could demand me. For when I demand, none shall deny me.” they came out more as a declaration of fact, rather than talk. With her hands spread wide, a smile that enchanted under the blue moonlight, and eyes that looked at all with disdain. “ Tell me, can’t you see the star in front of you?”

“ You shouldn't speak more.”

“ Should I?” Young Bella lowered her hands at her old self. “ Have you heard about not seeing the forest for the trees? Wash out your eyes and look clearly. Can’t you see that fish toy we once saved? Rotting at the corn-”

“ Rayen is not rotten. Neither is he a toy.” Bella’s sleeves fluttered as mana emerged from her hands. Small frost started to appear on the fountain water which made the small fishes swim around in panic. “ If all you are doing is running your mouth, I have no time to hear it.” 

“ Sure.” Young Bella was carefree despite the cold around her. “ But remember this, I appear, because you made me.  I know how to get out of this precedent of ours. So do you.” This time she came directly to the point.

“ There is no other way.” 

“ Project New Moon.” Young Bella said as her older self kept repeating her helplessness, which started to make her sick. “ It was time we restart it.”

“ That was a failure.” Though Bella said it, her eyes waived a little.

“ For others, maybe.” Younger Bella’s smile returned as she said “ But we have our grandsons with us, no? The world is begging for us to make history. But you are busy denying it.”

“...” 

“ You know.”  Seeing her other self lost in thoughts, Younger Bella had a melancholy expression, with eyes lowered along with her voice. “ When you met that man in our dreams, I too, dreamed of that man. And that’s why I am here.  Start that project again. It holds the key to our redemption.” 

“...”

*****

Next day, Easparton.

Adrian rubbed his temples with an irritated look as he read the report in front of him. Across him, was Kalvin with his armour still on but without his helmet. He had a fair look to it, with short blonde hair and pale blue eyes. But when Adrian looked at him, his irritation only increased as he said. “ I really want to suspend you.” 

“ Why? This time, I didn’t even do anything.” Kalvin said with an innocent expression, that made Adrain slam his hand on the table.

“ That’s right. You didn’t do anything.” Adrian shouted.  “ Look at this file. I could see nothing of value in this. You are telling me that some guys from Oasis come here and destroy a building which happens to have access to some underground cave and then destroy it. But we, the actual authorities of Easparton, do not know about either the cave or the things that were destroyed yesterday. Does that make sense to you?”

“ You are trying to put useless blame on me.” Kalvin crossed his arms. “ My expertise is in fighting. If you must shout about us not knowing anything, then shout at Alvin. He’s responsible for intel works.”

“ That didn’t absolve you of responsibility. You are supposed to know what is entering or leaving the city.”

“ That’s true but…”

“ All the fiasco yesterday just showed that Oasis knew more about things happening in Easparton than we do. Do you know what this makes of our situation?” Adrian refused to buy into Kalvin’s usual excuses. The war’s shadow was on the horizon, and this incident was the biggest intelligence failure in Adrain’s eyes.

“ If you had allowed me to deal with the Gold Keepers first-hand, this would not have happened,” Kalvin said, though he lacked the confidence in his voice. He also knew inside, that just defeating Gold Keepers would not have changed anything. 

“ Fight a High Mage in the middle of Easparton?” Adrian had a deep frown at him as he tried his best to keep the boiling anger inside. “ Do you want to turn the city to ruins?” As an official mage himself, he knew how big of a jump High Mage was in terms of individual strength. Just from simple spells, one starts to have their own law domains which suppresses everyone inside.

” It’s not like they would matter in time.” Kalvin said but this time, his words were more like whispers. 

“...You are dismissed,” Adrian said as he couldn’t counter his words. Kalvin was not wrong in his words, but even so, Adrian wanted to see his city without harm. He took a deep breath. “ I would inform the City Lord, and ask for additional military personnel. So be prepared.”

“ You want me to do what?”

“ Check every single house. I want you to make sure that more such houses don't exist.”

“ And people say I overreact to things,” Kalvin said as he stood up and left the room.

Adrian then rang the bell on the table and Heron entered the room. “ Request the City Lord for a meeting. The matter is urgent.” Adrian said. Heron nodded and left. Adrian on the other hand took some time to rearrange the papers as well as reports from the recent incidents. When he was done, he had a knight pick up the files and moved towards the highest floor in the City Lord’s Mansion.

 “ Just in time my Lord. Sir City Lord is waiting for you inside.” Heron, who was already standing outside the room, said as soon as he saw Adrain. With his left arm, he opened the door. Inside was a rather spacious with comfy sofas, atop a red carpet that had a big scorpion drawn in the middle. At the end, was a table made from dark wood with a shiny polish that made it reflect the light. And on the top of it, in between the many papers and a flower pot, was a small colourless scorpion. Adrian stopped walking, for this scorpion looked faulty, unremarkable, and about the size of one’s hand, but it had the second deadliest venom in its tail—a direct bloodline of the Scorpion Queen. Adrian had a rather tense relationship with this one.

“ You are here.” A deep voice brought Adrian back to himself. On the chair beside the desk, sat the City Lord of Easparton. He was a middle-aged man with hazel eyes, coupled with an olive skin tone that complemented his chestnut and silver-coloured hair. There was a small goatee which was trimmed nicely with his neat Dark Khaki uniform with red and black stripes on his both shoulders as well as a Colour Scorpion Badge to his chest. He was none other than the city lord of Easparton, and also an Arch Wizard.

“ Greetings to Lord Arcturus.” Adrian bowed. The colourless scorpion too heard his words and moved its stinger in a stabbing motion before jumping to Acrturus’ body and resting on his shoulders. Arcturus pulled a small dried meatball from his desk and put it closer to the scorpion who started to eat it. 

“ You looked troubled as always,” Arcturus said to Adrian with a smile. “ Sometimes, you should take it easy.”

“ I would do that.” As Adrain said this, the knight placed the reports on the table and left with a salute to the Arcturus.

“ So, I got to know the gist of the matter from Heron,” Arcturus said to him. “ I already made plans of my own. You can take it easy, Adrian.” 

Adrian sighed a little. It was clear that he couldn’t have every house checked as he wished, but since Arcturus himself said to be at ease, he decided to leave it at that. “ Then I am reassured. Moving on to other things, my Lord, I would like to request some increase in the temporary workers under the food department.”

“ Oh, you have something in mind?”

“ Yes, due to ever-increasing beast riots, I have to ban their entry into the city. Which is causing some supply chain disruptions.” Adrian moved his hands and from the bunch of files, a file got pulled up in front of Arcturus, who opened it and started to read. “ I would like to move them with human workers instead. This should also give us some more control over the food supplies, at least it would be easier to track how much food is coming inside the city.”

“ Right.”

“ Then regarding the recent supplementary budget.” Adrian seemed to have a lot on his plate as once he started to speak, he didn’t stop for hours. Arcturus on the other hand didn't interrupt Adrian’s words, only sometimes he spoke either to refuse his ideas or give an alternative. He didn’t shy away from even speaking with an open mind, that city management was not the thing he excelled at. That’s why most of the time, he goes along with Adrian’s plans. On the other hand, Adrian never made any comment on the things which involved military planning or their tactics. If Arcturus didn’t agree with something, he would just change the plan or drop it altogether. Each works within their limits, that was the reason that even people like Kalvin, a High Knight, would allow an Official Mage much weaker than him to order him without much of a fuss.

“ That’s all,” Adrian concluded at last and drank some water. But when he looked back, Arcturus was still looking over some of the flies. He hesitated a little to speak. “ Sir, is it okay for me to ask something with a free mind?”

“ Why not?” Arcturus said as he looked back.

“ Are you really going to proceed with that plan?” When Adrian said this, he found the colourless scorpion on Arcturus hissing at him. He always heard Arcturus being the best son of the Great Mother, but when he looked at the carefree man reading the files, had such bloodlust hidden inside him to sacrifice half the population under his rule, just to overcome the Soul riots.

“ Do you know what my mother once said to an Arch Wizard?” As much as it came as a surprise to Adrian, Arcturus’ words lacked the tension, and sounded much like a routine talk. He rubbed his fingers on the back of his small scorpion and continued.  “ You only see the cruelty, but I could see the history. The history that I have written with my victory. But it need not to be. For there would be nothing to tell, if I didn't win. Now that would be a sad reality. Don't you agree?"

Adrian dared not to look at Arcturus’ face, as he started to feel some pressure compressing his chest, making him difficult to breathe. ‘Right, there was no other way.’  He thought as the scene from yesterday came to his mind, a man who always loved his family, but slaughtered them with mere mention of a name. Using such people to take into a war against her choice, he would not be surprised if mutiny happened the next day. If they didn’t deal with them first, then there was no hope of victory. ‘But do we need victory?’ This thought came to him, for a small chance he thought to argue about just going for compromise and avoiding the war entirely. Those words almost left his mouth, but they got choked on his throat. He remembered his goal when he first came to Easparton. Not even counting on Arcturus’ motive, his own motive didn’t support peace. ‘Maybe that’s what life is.’ He then rearranged his words and said as he stood up with a bow. “ Then, I would not be disturbing you.” Under Arcturus’ nodding head, he left the room.

“ Easy, you don’t plan to do friendly fire so quickly, no?” Arcturus said to his small friend who started to eat the dried meatball with increased pace. Arcturus stood up and behind him, a space warped into a black hole. When Arcturus crossed through it, he appeared in the underground cave similar to the one that John destroyed yesterday, but this time, it was much, much larger. Through the lamps, many shadows of people were busy moving all around, some were carrying huge crates and loading them into the huge ship that was floating just above the ground. Made from the skeleton of some beast, its thick white bones were visible as protruding outlines from the sides, along with a big ‘Y’ that was painted red. 

“ My Lord.” A person came to Arcturus and said with a bow. He was the same as others, with his body fully covered in black clothes and only his two red eyes visible to others. Even the voice seemed to have been disturbed by some magic, which made it difficult to tell whether it was a male or female. 

“ What’s the damage report from yesterday?” Arcturus asked after he looked at the ship. “ I didn’t expect such negligence from you guys.”

“ It’s a small armoury that got destroyed. Should not have too big of an effect on our plan.” The person said. “ It’s my fault. I didn’t want to draw attention and diverted the personnel from the guard duty.  Honestly, I never expected someone to actually investigate us like this.” 

“What about the rest of the armouries?” 

“ We are moving all of them to the battleships.” 

“ Make sure to not make too big of a sound. My vice city lord doesn’t like trouble in his city.” 

“ I would make sure of that.”

****

As Adrain left the room, he was a little upset-minded. He didn’t return to his office, as the whole day was spent just talking with Arcturus. Inside his house, he walked across and came to the underground room and made sure to close the door. He taped on the block of stone just beside the door. A strange writing flashed in the air, slowly turning transparent. Only then did he release a sigh of relief. From his spatial necklace, he removed two round stones, one black and one white. And lightly tapped them three times in different rhythms. Soon, in the enclosed room, a wind appeared that blew his hair, and soon a strange form appeared in front of his eyes. It had the shape of a tiny human but had pointy hairs. With transparent wings on the back and almost translucent hairs, coupled with azure eyes. An elemental spirit of wind. 

“ Connect me to the Queen,” Adrian said and the wind spirit joined her both hands, soon from the mouth of the spirit, a sound entered his ears.

“ Be short with your words.” It was a voice from a woman, but even Adrian could feel the disdain in it. 

“ Yes, My Queen. I have confirmed the authenticity of the plans of Easparton and there was no mistake or error.” Adrian was used to her words, he didn’t expect anything less. “ I have witnessed the influence of the Great Mother with my own eyes. There was no way for Easparton to succeed, other than to follow through with the said plan.”

“ Keep reporting back if there is anything more.” With such words, the voice was cut off, Adrian felt it was mostly because she didn’t want to talk with a human for a long time. The spirit also disappeared soon after and Adrian was the only one left in the room. It was as John had said, Adrian wasn't born in Thar. But that didn’t matter much to him, but inside there was just a voice. ‘Would it be different if I was from Thar?’ The answer he couldn’t get.

***

On the other side of the Verdant Divides, it was a difference of world, the scorched sands of Thar were replaced with ever so green lush rainforest. When moonlight filtered through the canopy of trees, it cast an eternal glow on everything below. The air was crisp and cool, filled with the sweet fragrance from the many blooming flowers and the earthy scent of the forest floor.

The sound from the nocturnal creatures, the rustling of leaves due to small movements of creatures and the gentle babble of streams provided a soothing melody, complementing the peaceful ambience of the forest. This was the centre of Silverglade Forest, a place on the other side of the Verdant Divides, the home of elves, the kingdom called Aurelianaethil. The largest river named Tethys, flowed gently through here and on its side stood a magnificent tree, a towering structure that reached up to the sky, overshadowing all other trees nearby. Its lush full green branches stretched out in every direction and seemed to glow in the moonlight. It was Aurelianar, the sacred tree of elves.

On its trunks which were thicker and sturdier than one’s imagination, a magnificent Royal palace was built filled with Elvish architecture and beauty. In one of the rooms of the palace was an equally grand and beautiful room, lit by the soft glow of moonstone, that cast shadows upon the intricate carving that adorned the walls. A person who sat on a chair. It was a woman with long silver hair cascading down her back. She was fair and graceful, her skin pale as the moon and her eyes were of the colour of the ocean and two pointy ears. Her dress was made of the finest silk, shimmering in the light with pearls and jewels that sparkled like stars. She was Seraphine Aurelia Silverleaf, the current queen and the ruler of Elves. Her face was proud as she talked with an elemental spirit shimmering with a pale blue light, its form shifting and changing like the wind.

“ Keep reporting back if there is anything more.” She ended the communication with such words. Seraphine then looked towards the wall, a portrait was hanging on the wall. In the portrait, a woman similar to Seraphine, along with a male elf just beside her. Her eyes softened a little when she looked at him, but that was just a moment of distraction. She stood up and walked out of her room. As she walked through the high hallways of her palace, she soon reached her destination. The reason she cut her spy before lay beyond this wooden door. A meeting of the Elvish Elder Council was supposed to take place at the moment. A fourth meeting of this month, called once again by her. 

As she walked past the ever-so-bowed guards, she found all the other members had arrived. Including herself, the Elder Council contained a total of nine odd members, with the highest purity of blood, called High Elves and each member of the council was referred to as Elder.  Although she was the queen of elves, in peacetime her powers to rule all over Alurelianehil were limited to a majority vote of the Council. As she sat on her chair, her eyes moved towards the sixth seat from her, where a middle-aged looking elf called Finwell Woodspirit could be seen with his iconic wood-coloured eyes and long straight hair. He, along with his three supporters, held considerable sway in the council, and it was because of him that the council meeting had come to a standstill.

"Sir Eryndor, I believe that you should be aware of the current situation of those lowly beings and should proceed with the voting now," She averted her gaze and turned towards the elf next to her, Eryndor Silverbough, the senior member of the council and its official head. She already had the support of three members and needed his vote to break the current deadlock.

"My Queen, I understand your desire to move forward quickly, but Elder Woodspirit's objections sound valid enough to warrant a debate,"  Eryndor said, who was quite old even for an elf with little wrinkles across his face. 

Finwell endorsed his words. “I am extremely glad that the Grand Elder decided to listen to my words,” Finwell said as he stood up with grace and forwarded some letters. “Besides, I am sure I can convince everyone that the Queen’s plan, though filled with good intentions for elves, sadly lacks in the broader vision.”

"Elder Woodspirit, while I value the opinion of every member present in the council, I think you overestimate the capabilities of bugs," Seraphine replied, her eyes filled with annoyance. If possible, she wanted to remove these elders who lacked the courage to embrace change and were too entrenched in the past to see the potential for the greater cause.

“The bugs you are speaking about currently control half this continent,” Finwell countered, not bothered by Seraphine’s words. “I fail to understand the reasoning behind not taking them seriously.”

 “ The land they hold was once our land. Our great forest, that now they turned into a wasteland where even grass can’t grow.” Seraphine said as she narrowed her eyes. She didn’t hide her disdain for humans.“Are you suggesting we should treat those bugs the same as our noble kind?” 

“Not at all, but due caution should be given when required, lest our house get chewed by those bugs.”

Eryndor didn’t take part in the heated discussion from both sides but read those letters given by Finwell with a thoughtful look on his face. “My Queen, you should look into these reports; I am afraid that Elder Woodspirit’s concerns are not without cause.”

As he handed the letter to Seraphine, Finwell decided to explain the content to all. “Fellow elders, let me elaborate on the current situations at the Verdant Divides. These reports that I handed over today are the latest information our army scouts have gathered from the other side.”

When everyone looked at the report, it contained numerous accounts of new structures being built on the mountains, many close to the guardian posts of Elvish Rangers, the one who patrols those mountains. 

As he succeeded in drawing attention to himself, Finwell had the confidence to convince others. “Those humans are building several temporary shelters along our whole borders, with quite a few of them already in place.”

“Elder Woodspirit, can you elaborate on what types of structures those are?” With a tactful understanding, one of the elders from his faction asked, and Finwell made a grim face.

“We are not too sure, but they are similar to field hospitals, accommodations, and temporary command centres from the outlook.”

“This…”

“When did this happen? Why were we not informed about this before?”

“If true, why are we discussing the removal of troops rather than increasing them?” Almost all other elders had their faces changed as soon as the words reached their ears, turning into worry and panic. This almost looked like the humans' preparation before the invasion, and the consequences of which made even the members of the Queen’s faction waver. They all looked at her for clarification. Finwell too did the same, but his earlier confidence turned into a frown when he found no change in Seraphine's face. 

“ We are calling our troops back because they, as the swords of our nation, have become rusted.” She said as she kept going through the reports.

“Your Highness, you are not going to deny my reports as false positives, right?”

“Elder Woodspirit, you need not worry about such things, as I already know about this and can say with certainty that the reports are mostly correct.”

Her attitude put Finwell in further doubt. This was not how someone on the other end of the argument should behave when cornered. Especially about the part about her knowing it beforehand. He couldn’t tell if that was a bluff or a fact.

“But as I've said before, Elder Woodspirit tends to overestimate the bugs. Those structures are indeed being built for storage, to treat the wounded and as a temporary HQ for their kind.”

“Then…”

“But the conflict will not be with us,” Seraphine cut his words and pushed forward with a confident voice. “ It was the end game of Easparton. They plan to hold their fort in the mountains.” 

“ How are you so sure about it?” Finwell ignored the arguments from his colleagues and asked her. This was an important question, because just some decades ago, when Thar was reeling under the Divine War, the elves under his previous elvish king launched a sudden attack towards Verdant Divides. The conditions were all right for them to make a move, Thar’s forces were busy fighting elsewhere, and their supply lines already stretched. They should be unable to defend the Verdant Divide. But they did, not only did the invasion end in failure, but they also lost their king as he was beheaded. The late husband of Seraphine, and a friend of Finwell. They expected a retaliation after the Divine war, but that never came. This was why, elves under the rhetoric of pure blood by Seraphine, now dream of taking back the desert as their own.

“ I have my ways,” Seraphine said but avoided the topic of her spy. “ But what I say with full assurance, is that those bugs would not be a threat to us. I know some Elders here want me to contact Oasis and have them explain about these constructions. But what I see is some bloodthirsty insects out for blood of their kind. They, after all, lack the pure blood in their bodies like us.”

Finwell found her faction nodding at her words, and that didn’t help his cause. “ Even though you might be correct. Pulling our forces from the border was not the wisest move we should make.”

“ I am disappointed in you, Elder Woodspirit.” Seraphine stood up and said with a greater voice. “ Just look at ourselves. We are of noble birth. The one born from nature itself. Are we so afraid that we can’t even see our victory? What more do you need to get back your pride? Beyond the high walls of mountains, our enemies are nothing but hollow shells of their past. That shell too is now getting rusted and being hammered by their kind. All we had to do was let them finish themself but even that we cannot do, because we have forgotten our origins.” 

There was a reason why her words resonated with many of the elves. There was a time in history when the whole of the southern continent was once a forest, ruled by none other than elves. But one day, a small tribe got their guardian and the forest soon turned into a desert. Thus when the Queen of Elves up her rhetoric of her prideful blood as well as her dream of taking back their land, it just sells too well. 

“ Queen Seraphine, I know your dream of wiping out the humans from the Southern continent,” Finwell said. At this point, his influence was getting lower and lower, and to protect his interest, he had no choice but to interfere with her. “ Even if I overlook the old ruler of Thar. You are forgetting that there was still the human alliance to look for.” When he mentioned that, everyone had a frown. For they know, as much as the fierce speeches go, the realities don't change with it. “ We all know this. The Human’s alliance was the one which now runs this world. If we ever decided to attack humans, pariah or not, they would be coming too. And that meant wizards too.”

“ Do you still believe such nonsense woven by those humans?” Seraphine said with anger across her face. Wizards are a taboo subject for her. How couldn’t they? For it was rumoured that the one who beheaded her husband was none other than a wizard. She pointed her finger at him and said with force. “ As much as the wizards are concerned, they would be tied down by the treaty, if only we stop dilly-dallying ourselves and go through the Illusionary Alliance with my plan.”

“ That plan is borderline stupidity. How could we do that?” 

The Illusionary Alliance was made up of all other races that are not humans. As the room started to get heated again, Eryndor stood up and raised his voice. “ Everyone, we are the Elders, not some brawlers. So I would suggest you guys to cool down.”  Because both factions needed his support, none wanted to offend him and thus backed away. “Since it looks like we couldn't reach any agreement for today. I would be postponing the meeting for another time.” 

With his words, no one refuted him and the meeting was dismissed. FInwell exchanged some words with his faction member and though his face always had a smile, one could tell he was not happy inside. When everyone chose to go their way, Finwell returned to his room. The moment he closed the door, his tense face disappeared and was replaced with a more cheerful one. He sat down on his sofa and started to eat an apple from the table.

“ You sure change your face fast.” At this time, an unremarkable voice came from the shadows under the window. Finwell was not surprised that it kept eating the apple.

“ So, why did you come here?” Finwell said after eating a bite from the apple. “ Surely, you are not here to convince me to go with Seraphine’s stupid plan after you heard her speech of noble blood or something.”

“ Our customer says the plan could be delayed.”

“ On whose wish?” Finwell paused but didn’t put down the apple. “ The eagle or her hatchlings?”

“ Eagle.”

“....” There was momentary silence in the room. Before Finwell returned to his smiley face and took another bite of the apple. “ Tell them I don’t mind. But the time shouldn’t be more than a month or two. Otherwise, I would not be able to deliver the parcel anymore.” 

When he finished that, no more sound came from the shadows, but he knew his message had been heard. His eyes then fell into the portrait of three elves on the wall. Two males, one female. But his eyes were focused on the female, who looked similar to Seraphine but a little younger than her current self. “ Seriously, you should have chosen a better person.” He muttered under his breath.