February 21^st, 912

I was quite surprised to awaken this morning having received a summons. Some officials from within the central tower seemingly learned of my arrival here in Erenley. What need they have of me, I do not know, but they have requested my immediate presence.

Due to Gravalt’s close relationship with the United Mortals, many of Erenley’s top officials have close ties to the alliance. I’ve no doubt my own involvement with the UM is what drew their attention. Whatever task they hold is of great importance, no doubt, so I shall not keep them waiting longer than it takes to write this short entry.

Alicia and I were planning to explore the tower either way, so I suppose this is not a terrible diversion. She is ready, so off we go.

—Kirra

February 21^st, 2^nd entry

Today has been quite eventful. Alicia and I were escorted to and through the inner tower by a pair of guards; my companion seemed quite averse to the attention it drew, though she did stick with me throughout the entire ordeal.

I have been to the inner tower before, and it is almost uncanny how little the layout of the structure itself has changed over time. Buildings have passed over multiple owners and purposes, but the shape of the tower is almost identical to what stood a century before; with time, I likely could have navigated to the core myself.

Erenley is governed from a structure at the very center of the tower, halfway up its staggering height, a place officially called the Imperial Core, but most often simply called the core. A council of nine oversees the nation—three natives of Erenley, three natives not of Erenley, and three representatives of the United Mortals. This balance is strictly upheld to ensure fair governance of the capital and the surrounding territories while also maintaining the city’s ties to what remains of the United Mortals.

Alicia and I found ourselves an audience to this council. As I suspected, the UM members are responsible for summoning me—to be precise, a man named Ezekiel Endine. He is an Archangel, one of the rare Demigods not driven mad by his own nature; we worked together quite extensively throughout the Holy Wars. It seems Erenley’s council is the station he has found for himself in a post-war world.

Nice as it was to meet with an old comrade, he did not call upon me for niceties, but for my talents, which he perhaps knows better than any other. Gravalt has received a request for aid from Samurallia, a predominantly Human nation to the southeast, built among the northern peaks of the mountains of Malmorr.

Samurallia itself is not suffering, but it has identified a group that is. There is a race known as the Seitaad, Fae with bodies of sand who wander the Akkhil Desert. Until now they have been content to live as nomads in the desert, taking advantage of their nomadic nature to evade the endless conflicts of the Holy Wars in much a similar manner to the Ovcharkans.

Unfortunately for the Seitaad, the population of a certain monster has exploded and overtaken the desert in its entirety. They are called Myrmecoleon, creatures like a hybrid of ant and lion. They are as ferocious as the latter and possess the same versatility and faux-intelligence as the former, making them extremely dangerous.

While they have resided in the desert for many years, their population has been sparse, limited primarily to the surroundings of a few nests with known locations. News from Samurallia states that the vast majority of the creatures previously lived in expansive underground caverns, and that the population explosion is the result of the creatures coordinating and emerging to the surface all at the same time. Over the course of only a couple years, what used to be only a few sparse nests have become dozens, and they are accompanied by towering hives not unlike the tower I sit within now.

The people of Samurallia, along with some other neighboring nations, have done their best to contain the spread of the creatures, and they have succeeded in destroying several nests and even laying siege to a hive. However, the monsters are repopulating faster than they can be killed, and more than any other the Seitaad are suffering in the crossfire. Lacking the walls of a city, an organized military, and the weapons of an established civilization, they can do little to defend themselves from the creatures.

It is this tragedy that Ezekiel has tasked me with alleviating. Gravalt’s council has decided to contribute what they can, but their army can reach only a limited portion of the desert. They do not wish to leave their own lands undefended, and the desert is sorely lacking for resources; moving an army deep into such territory would result only in needless death.

Naturally, I am not the sort of person capable of wiping out thousands of monster on my own. I do, however, possess some slight renown for my actions as a representative of the United Mortals, and I am well-respected in what few circles know my name. Ezekiel hopes I can serve as a representative of the alliance and convince additional nations to assist in aiding the Seitaad and purging the Myrmecoleon.

I am not so heartless to refuse such a plea. It does not represent a major deviation from my current goals, either; I will continue to visit the nations of the world, and the endeavor will no doubt provide Alicia with many an opportunity to hone her skills in battle.

We set out to Emberfall tomorrow, Gravalt’s neighbor and largest trading partner. Ezekiel intends on joining me personally, along with a small squad of his personal guard. He hopes to extend the plea he received from Samurallia to his nation’s ally.

I had hoped to explore the central tower more thoroughly, but it cannot be helped. With such a great task at hand, I haven’t time to waste on such frivolities, and I have need of good rest.

—Kirra