“I thank you, King Truls, for the compliment,” Elhael began, his voice sounding like a river flowing softly through the air. Much less brutish than the one who had spoken before him. “Indeed, what King Truls has said is true. Unlike their original entry to this world - the cause of which we have yet to understand how or why it happened - my scouts have found such a portal in the forests of Caegwen. After having observed it for three months, they noted that once every full moon, the portals open and these foul beasts pour out until the morning sun closes the portal,” he continued.

“This is not exclusive to Caegwen, however, as there are portals in every country, we just found ours first. We are still unsure why this is happening on such a consistent basis. We currently lack the manpower to make any attempts at closing them. The only foreseeable way to close such breaches in our realm is through extraordinarily strong spells, though other suggestions are more than welcome,” he said, glancing around the room.

“My mages are tirelessly working on ways to close the aforementioned, however, any recent attempt at closing it has failed drastically, resulting in the deaths of more than a few of my warriors,” he said, with a drop of tone towards the end of his sentence. “Regrettable as their downfalls are, we must move on. I propose that my mages work in conjunction with the others scattered around the Continent, so that we can put an end to these incursions,” he said with conviction.

“I agree, your majesty,” the Master said, raising a hand. “The more people we have working on how to close them, the sooner results will come. However, I must ask the following: How do the portals open, and are they two-way or one-way portals?” he asked. “We believe them to be two-way,” Elhael replied. “However, none of my men thus far have had the courage to attempt to go into one,” he said dejectedly.

“I believe we should mount a party of the bravest men and women, volunteers of course, to go in and at the very minimum see if it is in fact a two-way portal,” Bashir said, raising his hand. Leona instantly turned her head towards him. He was the son of King Bashaa, and a good looking man overall; tanned, dark haired, with pale green eyes. His close cut hair and beard showed he cared much for his appearance.  His warrior past had given him a strong and able body to match, so it was no small wonder why she’d be interested in him.

“I don’t entirely disagree with you, Prince Bashir,” Elhael said. “However, I must ask you where you may find such valliant folk to pull that off,” he said with curiosity. “We could always let Mideia do it,” said someone not seated at the table.

My brother and I winced at the exact same time.

An old, hooded man stepped out from behind Truls’ guardsmen, and began making his way towards the table. He was hooded, with the sign of the Church's sword and staff sewn into his robes. The hems were dirty, and the areas around his knees were well worn out from kneeling often. His face was wrinkled as unfolded clothes, and his beard looked like a gray cloud. His eyes were pale and gray, yet saw more than most.

“Mideia will save us,” the old man began saying. “He has always been there for us in our times of need, and he will be with us now,” he said with conviction. “Father Mourtis. How nice of you to join us,” Truls said courteously. “Who is this man and what is he doing in a war council if he is a priest?” King Bashaa asked angrily. “This is the high priest of the Church of Mideia,” the Master said.

“That’s all well and good, but what is he doing in a war council?” Bashaa asked once more, more angrily than before. “Essentially, my Lords, they want the eradication of all things deemed evil by their god,” the Master said. “Unfortunately for the followers of Mideia, smiting evil hasn’t exactly been on his to-do list of late,” the Master said with a grin.

Mourtis was white with rage. “How dare you blaspheme against the one true god who stands above the rest, you non-believer?” he began, screaming at the top of his lungs. “Non-believer?” the Master asked calmly. “I know that there are many gods, I simply don’t believe yours is the most powerful,” he continued calmly. Mourtis furrowed his brow. “Mark my words: He will smite you down with bolts from the sky, and brimstone from the deepest corners of the Underworld,” he bellowed threateningly.

“Have you ever been to the Underworld before, priest?” the Master asked calmly. Mourtis was surprised by the question. “N-no, I have not! Of course not! What a ridiculous notion!” he retorted. “Well, if you had, you would have known there is no brimstone there, and that it is also not geometric in shape, I might add,” the Master began. “I don’t know for sure how powerful Mideia is, or what bullshit you spue to your followers, but if you think he could strike me down, I’d love to see him try,” said the Master threateningly.

Mourtis was taken aback, while the rest of us, Bernar and Roburn included, stifled our laughter at the prospect of the Master verbally demolishing this priest. Mourtis’ eyes burned with a fire no one had seen or even guessed the old man had.

“Calm down, you two,” Elhael interjected, his voice raised just enough to get their attention. “Bickering over such menial things is pointless right now. Let us focus on what we must do to rid ourselves of these beasts,” he concluded.

“He’s right. It may be entertaining to the rest of us to watch the High Priest squirm, but King Elhael has a point, nevertheless,” Bernar chimed in, giving the elven king a knowing nod which was returned in kind. Everyone calmed back down, and the sound of light laughter faded. Mourtis was glaring at the Master who kept a straight face the whole time.

Just then, I felt an urge of mana flowing through the room, but I wasn’t able to pinpoint it due to all of the other casters in the room. I tapped Bernar’s shoulder, “I think we’ve got a problem here,” I whispered. “I felt it too,” Bernar began, leaning in a little closer. “But this is a war council, and there’s not a single turtle shit I can do about it without starting an all out war over breaking tradition,” he said while looking around the room.

I’d best keep an eye out for anything that seems suspicious. I didn’t like the feel of that. Not one bit, I thought, scanning the room for anything out of the ordinary.

“Well, then,” King Mads began in a grunty voice after clearing his throat. “We need options, and fighting like dogs over meat about what to do won’t solve our problem. I agree with sending a party as King Bashaa had suggested before, however as to how we will acquire such brave people might be more complicated than we think,” he said, looking at everyone in the room inquisitively.

“Advertising a certain amount of gold per person willing to go might do the trick,” Leona said and everyone turned their attention towards her. Bashir’s eyes opened wide and he blatantly stared at her.

If his facial features could write words, they would have something regarding how beautiful she is strewn across them, I thought, noticing the man’s obvious lack of lustful disguise.

“I agree with Queen Leona, though it will take no small amount to convince young men and women to take up a task that they might not return from,” Elhael said. “The proper amount for each willing person will be decided in accordance with whether they have family and before the actual test takes place,” Truls said. “So we are all in agreement on this happening, I take it?” Bashaa asked, gazing around the room briefly. “I believe so,” Elhael replied. “All in favor say aye,” Leona called out. A unanimous aye resounded from every man and woman present, and all looked towards Truls.

“Then, my dear gentlemen and ladies present, I believe our council here is finished for the moment. We will reconvene after lunch,” Truls declared. “Kings Elhael, Bashaa, Mads and I shall meet once again to discuss the economical viability for each country,” Truls said. The four nodded to each other and began to move away from the table. “All are now excused,” Fulco called out, and showed the leaders to the door.

As they were leaving the room,  Mourtis stopped the Master, and began speaking to him privately. I took note of the expression the High Priest had on his face during their conversation.

Damn it, I can’t hear what they’re saying. Although, judging by how intense the High Priest seems, it almost looks like he’s threatening the Master, I thought.

Just then, a servant came up to me and interrupted my thoughts. “Young master,” the servant said. “Your friend is awake and is asking to see you and the others,” he said with excitement. My eyes opened widely at the news, and I curtly nodded my head. “Thank you for the news! It’s much appreciated,” I said briefly, running off taking Bernar, Irun and Batch along with me.

Just before I left the council room, I saw Leona staring at Bashir, who tried to avoid staring back, but had a hard time keeping his eyes off of her. “Come, my sweet,” Truls said, putting his hand on her shoulder. She shuddered in what looked like disgust, but began to walk alongside the king.

That was weird, I thought, but quickly dismissed that line of thinking, as I had a new focus in mind.

I ran into the nursery, and almost knocked over a healer or two on the way in. I found his friend, though only one eye was open. “Thoma,” he said weakly. “Edryd! You’re...you’re…,” I didn’t want to finish. “No, I’m not blind in one eye if that’s what you were going to say. It's just a bit hard to open it with all the clotted blood around it,” he said. “I’m relieved to hear that,” I said. “Well, it could have been much worse,” Batch began. “You could have lost your prick,” he said with a chuckle. Edryd wheezed heavily from the pain that was laughing, but he still had a smile on his face.

“So, tell me,” Edryd began. “What happened?” he asked with genuine curiosity. The other boys and I began telling of the battle and council, while in the meantime Bernar was warming up to a nearby nurse.

She rejected him shortly after he began speaking.

After a few hours of talking about their experiences the previous day and on that day, we bid farewell and a speedy recovery to Edryd, and went to our dormitory. I sat down on a bench in the bathing area and went over the information and all of the things I had seen that day.

What the hell was that mana burst? I thought.