Harrison didn’t know why he was still alive. The council hadn’t experienced so much resistance for over two decades. Yet, he was still breathing. As he walked along the long hall to the council chamber, he clutched the letter that might mean his death. When he had received the message, he had gone home at once. He spent the entire afternoon with his two wonderful children. Their tinkling laughter and immense joy when he had bought toys remained.

“They must have realized that this moment was something special, something unrepeatable.”

After that, he and his wife talked about nothing and everything for two hours. Now, he was standing in front of the dreadful door, having said his peace. Pulling out some last vestiges of confidence, he swung open the door and entered. The atmosphere in the room was loaded with tension and he cringed. Luckily, the hostility wasn’t directed at him, but rather at the other council members. He sighed in a deep breath of relief. Akila flicked up her long blonde hair into the air and stated.

“Our dear, dear master of intelligence is deceased. I have had my spy network in place for years. Men will talk to whores more than they talk to their wives. I nominate myself for the position of master of intelligence.”

Harrison realized that he wasn’t the target, sure, but he was stuck in a battlefield of giants. They wouldn’t look down on the ants they had crushed. The first one to object was the black shadow in the corner of the room.

He twirled around the black blade of a stiletto in the palm of his hand and replied. “Your protector is gone, my lady. I don’t want to throw around threats, but I could slaughter your ragtag band of bouncers within several days.”

Judging by Akila’s reaction, the master of assassinations, it wasn’t an idle threat. Loud coughing saved the standoff from escalating. The head of drugs, a filthy and greasy-haired young man, spoke up. “I can’t let you do that. You know that I and Akila have such vast amounts of money that we can drown you in bodies.”

The shadow gave an irritated hiss and turned to the only party that hadn’t spoken their mind – The master of thieves. The thief’s beer gut swiveled around as he shrugged his shoulders and added. “You know that we are and always will be neutral. It hurts our business too much, but don’t mistake it as a weakness. True neutrality means that if either of you makes any moves, we will retaliate.”

The thief motioned to the shadow. “If you want to kill me, you will be stumped to realize that every thief shares my view. Apart from that, I can’t command them to do anything. Why can’t we do it the usual way and let people apply for the job?”

The master of drugs and Akila agreed, but the shadow only shook his head. “You think me so foolish? Akila, I know that you manipulated the last testing so that this incompetent snot would get the seat. One of our brothers was winning, so you manipulated the testing crystal. Do you think I am so naïve to believe that if you did it once, you won’t do it again?”

The shadow retreated to a dark corner of the room. For a moment Harrison thought he had only stopped speaking. Suddenly, a bleeding head flew out of the dark corner. When he tilted his head, he realized that the shadow was gone.

Akila made her way over to the head and turned it around – It was one of her favorite slaves that she kept in her secret hideout. The beautiful, glowing eyes of Akila settled on him. Without a second thought, he blurted out. “I am supporting the true ruler of the council, Akila.”

The drug addict threw him a dirty look, and he added. “And the master of narcotics.”

Now satisfied, the young man turned his attention to the exotic herbs he had rolled up into a piece of paper. “You can go now.”

Faster than he could think himself capable, he tore open the door and shut it again. As soon as he was outside of the building, tears of immense joy rolled down his cheeks.

It felt good to be alive.