While chaos ensued in the Empire, another location was also in a state of great upheaval. High up in the mountains of the Astheon continent stood a grand citadel that shined like the heavens themselves. A great city was built on the highest peak of the tallest mountain; it represented the greatest marvel of architecture. Giant towering buildings stood side by side to each other each made of white marble that nearly glowed. Every single building was carved into the mountain face and each had their own representative murals chiseled onto the surface that embodied their long history.

The largest of these buildings stood in the center of the city. It gave off an unyielding aura that conveys that even if the world collapsed, this mighty building would remain standing.

At the very top floor of this building inside a large dark room laid a grand round table with nine chairs surrounding it. Currently only four of those seats were occupied and the atmosphere inside this room can be said to be so tense that even breathing would require a large amount of effort.

The four sitting figures could only be described with one word; “heavenly”. Each of them had three pairs of wings on their backs that were as white as snow and gave off an aura of divinity as well as sparkling, golden eyes adorning their faces. Despite the tense atmosphere, their beauty shone unhindered. Every single one of them looked to be in their early twenties though their true age is unknown.

At this moment, one of the figures finally decided to speak out to proceed with the meeting. “So. He’s finally dead?” the figure asked in a rather coarse voice.

Another figure replied in a calm voice despite the silent pressure in the room, “Yes, he died a few days ago. It has been confirmed and that he’s already been buried.”

A third figure snorted at this. “Good riddance I say. He had always been an irritation and I’m glad that guy is finally out of our hair for good. Even while he was in the council, I’ve always questioned whether that monstrosity was truly one of us. After all, even if he was born like us, his appearance and habits have always indicated the contrary. He even practices that vile dark magic; I’m surprised that he wasn’t kicked out of our group earlier.“

At this, a fist slams down onto a table, causing a loud bang and dust particles to rise into the air. Everyone looked at the last figure as he spoke while glaring at the third figure.

“Silence! You shall not speak one more ill word of him. We aren’t here to insult him. I don’t care what sort of vendetta you had against him, right now we have more serious issues on our hands; issues that, if I may remind you, were caused by your folly for evicting him in the first place. I’ll have you know that that so called ‘monstrosity’ was the only one keeping the Elementals from declaring war on us, especially now in our weakened state. And the only reason why we are weakened right now is because you all tried to forcefully seal and expel him, which resulted in the death of half of the Council.”

To this, the third figure replied, “I don’t know why you defend him so much even now. The rest of the Council agreed with me that that decision was the best for our race even if you don’t approve of it. Having him among us will only bring trouble and his habits will taint the purity of our race simply by being near us. I'd much rather deal with a threat from outside rather than one from within. Face it, even if you don’t agree with us, you can’t ignore our obvious dissatisfaction with him. It was only a matter of time anyway.”

The last figure just sighed as he held his hand to his head, “Yes, I was aware of your feelings towards him and I deeply regret not being there to prevent it. Maybe things would have turned out better if I had been more adamant about mediating between you guys. For that, it’s a folly on my part as the leader.”

“However, as a leader, I’m also disappointed in you all. I don’t care what you may have against him, you all should have been more responsible in dealing with him. Even if he may be a bit different from us, that is no reason for you all to do what you did. There is no way that you can justify endangering our entire race simply because you don’t agree with his habits. To forcefully evict him like that has made it so that the fate of our entire race hangs now on the line. He was the strongest amongst us and you people just couldn’t swallow your disagreements with him which now leaves us in the state we are in. Now with less than half of us left, we face a very difficult situation.”

“In any case, let’s put our discussion on him for a later date; that’s not what this meeting is about.” The last figure spoke as he grimly looked around.

“As I mentioned earlier, now that he’s dead, the Elementals, or more specifically, the Avatars are most likely going to declare war on us. It could happen any moment now, in fact. Right now I want us to discuss any countermeasure ideas we may have to stop them. I fear that if we don’t do something drastic soon then our race may very well face extinction. If anyone has any thoughts please speak u-.”

In that moment, I gigantic explosion resounded throughout the city, shaking its very foundations. The source of it appeared to originate from the front gates of the citadel.

“Tch. It looks like they’re already here. This is a very big problem.”

The four figures immediately left the meeting room and flew out of the building. Flying over the panic resounding from all around the city, they immediately headed to the front gates to assess the situation. What they found there could only be described as spine-shivering. Their faces visibly paled as they saw a colossal legion of elementals, its numbers easily surpassing a million, marching directly at them. At the forefront of this huge army floated seven distinct figures, the Avatars, each one representing the strongest Elemental of the seven fundamental elements.

Loud thundering could be heard as they drew near. At this, the last figure, presumably the leader, ordered the remaining three to quickly return and gather every capable soldier in the city. After the rest left to gather their forces, the leader simply turned back to the encroaching army with a bitter expression for one last look. The leader knew that it was very unlikely that they would survive this ordeal. The size of their own army was only a fraction of the one that was rapidly approaching.

‘Well, I suppose this is it.’ The leader thought dejectedly. ‘If only I had been a better leader, maybe I could have prevented all of this. In all honesty, you would have made a much better leader than me; if only fate had been a bit kinder and let you be the first born instead of me, this situation may have never happened.’ The leader tightly gripped his palms in frustration. ‘If you were still here, what would you do? Brother….’

Shaking his head once more to clear his mind, the leader made a resolute face. ‘No… What’s done is done. I can’t let myself wallow in self-pity, the fate of my race is depending on me. We are doomed if I can’t get my act together right now. I, Exvobus Alabast Imperia will make sure to pull through this no matter what, or die trying.’

Turning around and leaving towards where the rest of their army was gathering, he erased any further thoughts that would get in the way.

‘Forgive me, and wherever you are, please watch over this foolish brother of yours… Cyrus…’